The tags of Applied DNA Sciences (APDN) can be used to authenticate denim products, even when subjected to harsh processing. The tags added to the denim material prior to stone and bleach washings used in the production of finished garments are still detectable afterwards. They remain intact and are suitable for high quality forensic scale analysis after processing.

Denim undergoes the harshest treatment among apparel products. APDN provides its tags to companies in the textiles industry. This technology enables brands and manufacturers to track their fibers from the farm through to the finished product, allowing for a more transparent supply chain.

Traceability can also help verify certain sustainability claims about commodities and products, helping ensure good practices and respect for people and the environment in supply chains. In future, Applied DNA Sciences will tag cotton intended for denim use, as well as other premium fibers such as wool, cashmere, manmade fibers like viscose, nylon, and recycled polyester, and bio-based fibers. The company has a defined goal of having 3,00,000,000 sq. ft. of DNA-tagged leather under contract over the next five years.

There has been a lack of commercially available test methods to determine where denim fibers are grown, and this is a concern to manufacturers, as global counterfeiting continues to escalate.

The 18th Vietnam International Textile & Garment Industry Exhibition (VTG 2018) and the Vietnam International Textile and Apparel Accessories Exhibition (VitaTex) were organised on November 21, 2018 in HCM City. The events featured over 500 exhibitors including 100 brands from 13 countries and territories: Bangladesh, mainland China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey and Việt Nam.

Many sewing machines brands from mainland China and Hong Kong such as Adler, Leman, Siruba and others were also present at the expo. The events will include a number of seminars on issues like: the US-China trade war, a study of effective competitive strategy of garment company in Việt Nam, solutions for saving energy in the textile industry, automation, digitalisation, and challenges facing the Việt Nam textile and garment industry.

The expos are organised by Vinexad National Trade Fair & Advertising JSC, Yorkers Trade & Marketing Service Co Ltd, Guangdong Sewing Equipment Chamber Commerce and Paper Communication Exhibition Services, and the Hong Kong Apparel Machinery Association.

The Nigerian government vows to revive the country’s textile sector. Textile Company, the Vlisco Group will invest US $ 200 million in a textile factory in Nigeria. The President plans to encourage the cultivation of cotton in the country as it would offer jobs to thousands of people thereby keeping farmers busy as well as enhancing the economy of the nation.

Further, the government also plans to change the supply chain from Asia to Nigeria. It wants to promote the use of Nigerian cotton and also encourage the creative industries in the country to find a voice.

Cotton production in Nigeria has fallen. Among the reasons for this fall are: absence of improved seeds, pest infestation, price fluctuation, and a dearth of ginneries and textile mills. The cotton industry in Nigeria used to be very viable, employing a large number of people.

But this became history right from the 1990s. The capacity utilization which was more than 63 per cent dipped considerably. The number of textile mills dropped. The entire industry has virtually become moribund. Production of cotton in Nigeria is dominated by small scale farmers.

Now efforts are being made to develop improved seeds for farmers to increase productivity, in addition to the development of Bt cotton, a genetically modified, pest resistant plant cotton variety that will increase yield. Bt cotton is expected to be made available for farmers in the next planting season.

The expectation is if farmers have access to Bt cotton, the issue of pest infestation and low yield will become a thing of the past, thereby boosting activities in the entire value chain. Farmers are also looking for viable markets. They say allowing foreign markets to determine the price of the produce has helped in killing the cotton industry in the country.

Denim has become a very important segment for Uniqlo. But Uniqlo doesn’t follow denim trends such as busted knees or heavy patchworks. It’s about everyday staples such as skinnies, straight legs and boyfriend jeans with decent washes and treatments.

The retailer is known for its offer in basic jeans, designed in line with the whole collection‘s basic approach. Uniqlo aims for innovation in new technologies and generally invests in developments. In 2016 mother company Fast Retailing set up the Jeans Innovation Center in Los Angeles, a lab to develop new technologies in terms of the three fs–fabric, fit and finishing.

In the past, Fast Retailing had outsourced the production of samples and other operations to external manufacturers, but with this new center the company will now be able to manage the entire process in-house with the aim to considerably enhance the speed and quality of the products. In addition, the facility will focus on environmentally friendly processing and production methods, conducting R&D on chemicals and techniques used for fading and distressing of jeans.

All Uniqlo stores follow strict rules of arranging product groups, knitwear, T-shirts, underwear or jeans. Everything is either hanging or neatly folded and accurately stacked, showing the Japanese attention to detail and perfection.

Apparel Textile Sourcing Miami will be held from May 20 to 22, 2019. This is the second edition of Florida’s first ever international apparel and textile show. It is the largest apparel and textile sourcing show in the southern US and Latin America.

Dozens of apparel and textile organizations – from some 15 countries –will have a presence at the show. ATSM 2019 event, which presents three days of networking, seminars and fashion shows and connects Southeastern US, the Americas and the Caribbean to the production world of apparel, textile, and fashion – will host more than 300 international and domestic manufacturing companies exhibiting a wide range of products and process solutions in the field of manufacturing and sourcing services.

The 2019 event is expected to double in size from this year’s inaugural show. Apparel Textile Sourcing Miami is expected to attract a large number of domestic and international industry decision makers and promote Florida as a premier destination for the industry and stimulate the local economy.

The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textile and Apparel, the largest textile and apparel trade agency in the world, supports ATSM. ATSM’s sister shows are Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada and Apparel Textile Sourcing Germany.

Levi Strauss is planning an initial public offering. The company is likely to go public in the first quarter of 2019 and is aiming to debut with a valuation of about five billion dollars. This could be the company's return to the public markets, nearly five decades after going private.

The company first went public in 1971, but descendants of Levi Strauss, the creator of the blue jeans, took the company private shortly after. For the latest quarter the company’s sales rose ten per cent and net income jumped 44 per cent, mainly due to demand for its jeans at both retail stores and online.

Levi Strauss has undertaken a series of leadership moves designed to streamline decision-making and consolidate accountability for core business growth drivers. The company has established a new strategy and analytics organization, elevating the importance of data and analytics and pairing it with strategy to shape the future. This addition reflects the company’s belief that it has an untapped competitive advantage in unleashing the power of data and analytics.

The expansion of its retail network along with the emergence of digital has increasingly given the company a direct relationship with consumers — one that did not exist when the company was exclusively a wholesaler.

For the third quarter JC Penney’s net sales declined 5.8 per cent. Comparable sales fell 5.4 per cent on an unshifted basis. Marking out the calendar shift this year due to the 53rd week in 2017, comparable sales dropped down by 4.5 per cent.

The US-based department store chain’s women’s and men’s apparel along with accessories were the brand’s top performing segments in the recently concluded quarter. The company expects comparable sales for fiscal 2018 to be in low single digits. JC Penney operates more than 860 stores across the US, Puerto Rico and also offers its services via its exclusive e-commerce platform.

JC Penney finds itself weighed down by years of errors and muddled attempts to establish a clear identity with shoppers.

By the end of 2010, sales had fallen ten per cent from their 2006 high. Without testing shoppers’ reactions first, JC Penney changed its advertisements, its logo, its store designs and its pricing model, all attempts to make the retailer more palatable to wealthier shoppers. Penney ditched top private-label brands with loyal followings and introduced new ones that had little relevance to low- and middle-income customers.

As rivals adopted digital strategies and invested to improve their store experiences, Penney's financial distress gave it little room to spruce up stores, buy trendy merchandise, and hire more employees.

Gap will start closing a part of its 775 brand specialty stores globally, due to underperformance. Details on the locations and sequencing of the upcoming closures are yet to come, but the specifics should come as part of the forecast for FY2019., Gap plans to continue growing its e-commerce business, which makes up roughly 20 percent of revenue, and the more than 500 Gap outlet stores that account for about 30 percent of total Gap Global revenue.

The other 50 per cent of revenue for Gap stores all comes from the ailing specialty store segment of Gap Global and there is a wide variance in profitability among the group. The company’s sales declined 7 per cent in Q3 and earnings per share guidance for FY2018 narrowed to $2.55 to $2.60 from the previous guidance of $2.55 to $2.70. Meanwhile, sales were up 4 percent at Old Navy and up 2 percent at Banana Republic.

C&A has released the world’s first Cradle to Cradle certified Gold denim jeans. The jeans innovation posed both a material and design challenge that required designers to be open-minded and flexible in the way they utilized materials.

Cradle to Cradle is a science-based quality certification that acknowledges continuous improvement and innovation of products and processes. The release of C&A’s jeans comes on the heels of the first ever Cradle to Cradle certified Gold, fully compostable T-shirt collection launched in 2017. The denim jeans provide an example of ways to collaborate within the industry to split the materials into biological and technical nutrients to create a closed-loop system of design.

The challenge was in creating a garment that has the same performance as traditional models, but doing so in a way that is either 100 per cent technical or 100 per cent biological to allow them to return to their respective cycles at the end of use. Another option, which was adopted for the jeans, was to make them easily separable so the biological and technical nutrients can return to their respective cycles.

All the components in the jeans were made to be easily separable so that the biological and technical nutrients can return to their respective cycles.