The Zimbabwe Clothing Manufacturers’ Association (ZCMA) intends to employ 35,000 people in textile sector in next five years. In its bid to achieve target, ZCMA is striving to revive old garment and textile units in the country. The garment and textile industry of Zimbabwe had declined mainly owing to influx of imported products and outdated machines. Besides, the industry never got any funding for retooling.

According to Jeremy Youmans, Chairman, ZCMA, there are still lot of resources available in Zimbabwe and the country’s textile sector can create lot of jobs through value addition. He urged the government to implement ‘local content policy’ to enhance the growth of local industries. Raj Modi, Industry and Commerce Deputy Minister, assured Youmans that the government will not only help the textile and garment industries in the country regain their old glory, but also will execute policies to encourage industrialisation.

Tran Tuan An, Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade; and Cecilia Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Trade issued a joint statement on October 19, 2018 in Brussels following their meeting on the sidelines of the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting Summit (ASEM 12) The Vietnamese government and the European Commission (EC) pledged to implement the Europe-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) in a timely and effective manner.

The Vietnamese government is preparing plans to fulfill obligations under the free trade agreements while the EC supports the necessary reforms and adjustments through technical assistance. Both sides acknowledged the relevance of the trade and sustainable development chapter of the FTA and agreed to jointly promote initiatives in this field, including the ratification of the outstanding fundamental ILO conventions.

Textile firm Welspun India will continue to pursue its differentiation strategy based on branding, innovation and sustainability. The company reported a 21.38 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 121.69 crore for the September quarter. It had posted a net profit of Rs 100.25 crore in the July-September quarter a year ago.

Its total income, during the quarter under review, increased by 10.29 percent to Rs 1,797.79 crore as against Rs 1,629.93 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.The total expenses of the company increased to Rs 1,635.70 crore as against Rs 1,484.81 crore.

As per latest figures from the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO), Vietnam surpassed China as a supplier of footwear for Germany-based Adidas in 2017 in the multinational corporation’s years-long shift of sourcing. The country, in 2017, made 44 percent of Adidas’ footwear volume while Chinese factories produced 19 percent, declining from around 30 percent in 2012.

Adidas has been shifting sourcing from China to Vietnam over the past five years, and the Southeast Asian country boasted of a steady increase in orders placed by the company during the period. By September, Vietnam’s leather and shoe exports were estimated to have reached $11.9 billion, representing a year-on-year rise of 10.5 percent.

The nation has become the second-largest footwear exporter to the United States, with around 404 million pairs of shoes shipped to that market by September, only behind China.

Metalbottoni, the women’s brand has introduced a new range of denim accessories. The new Monster line includes new material solutions. The button, rivet and small plate range, which has always been the core of the Monster line, has been restyled. The line includes items made of non-metal material, using sustainable processes, of natural origin and 100 per cent biodegradable. These accessories are similar in appearance to traditional polyester, are interpreted in a responsible way and developed through a series of special and unique effects.

Leather Accessories line has an extended range of sustainable materials. The line of tags and rear waistband labels is enhanced through interpretations based on two new eco-friendly materials: recycled jacron and cork. The line Labora has new glossy and satin finishing for metal accessories.

The brand uses only BCI certified cotton for its in-house premium denim brand Never Denim. For Never Denim Metalbottoni has developed a series of jeans buttons and personalized rivets, all entirely produced according to the No Impact protocol. This means recycled raw materials, no use of chemical agents, processing and machinery that minimize the use of water and electricity.

Metalbottoni, founded in 1973, is dedicated to young women and offers accessible trend driven fashion through a network of over 200 single-brand stores in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Austria.

A textile and garment exhibition (VTG) will be held in Vietnam, November 21 to 24, 2018. The show is expected to attract more than 400 exhibitors from countries like Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Portugal, Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam.

Specialized seminars in the textile industry will be held during the exhibition with the participation of speakers from foreign associations and universities. Speakers will provide information from strategy to practical solutions to develop the textile industry. The Textile Export Promotion and Development Council (PDEXCIL) will lead the booths coming from India.

Companies such as Bao Lun, Rich Peace, Tajima and ZSK will display the latest embroidery machines. Heinz Walz, Epson, Grafica and Sulfet will introduce a variety of high quality printers. Beworth and Silk Road will bring the most advanced knitting machines. Maika will exhibit a CAD system. The exhibition will also feature famous brand names in sewing machines from Japan such as Brother, Hikari, Juki and Yamoto.

Vietnam’s export revenue in the first eight months of 2018 was up 15 per cent over the same period last year. In addition, the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement is expected to create ripple effect for the country’s textile and apparel industry.

Inditex CEO Pablo Isla has topped Harvard Business Review’s list of the best-performing chief executives in the world for the second year in a row. The ranking takes into account economic results and other elements of social responsibility. The other nine CEOs in the list include Jensen Huang, Nvidia; Bernard Arnault, LVMH, François-Henri Pinault, Kering; Elmar Degenhart, Continental; Marc Binioff, Salesforce; Jacques Aschenbroich, Valeo; Johan Thijs, KBC; Hisashi Ietsugu, Sysmex and Martin Bouygues, Bouygues.

As per the publication, if rankings were measured on financial returns alone, Isla would have come in 29th, compared with 18th a year ago. But the company’s strong performance in terms of corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG), which makes up 20 per cent of each CEO’s ranking, helped him take the top spot.

H&M is the world’s leading user of sustainable cotton and manmade cellulosic materials including lyocell. H&M aims to use only recycled or other sustainably sourced materials by 2030. With its yearly and steady increased use of recycled or other sustainably sourced materials, the group not only pushes the demand for widely used materials such as organic cotton, but also influences the scalability of new sustainable materials.

Nike tops the list of recycled polyester users. C&A is the world’s biggest user of organic cotton. Ikea is the biggest user of recycled cotton. Inditex is the second largest user of lyocell and the fourth largest user of preferred manmade cellulosics). Target is the third largest user of recycled polyester and the fifth largest user of preferred down. The North Face is the second largest user of preferred down.

All these companies show a deep commitment to scaling their global value chains of preferred fiber and to benchmarking their progress against the industry. These companies have also made significant investments in developing the supply chain needed to achieve the necessary measures of scale in preferred fiber production. What’s important is the growth of the 100 per cent club, those who have converted completely from conventional fiber.

The outlook for global growth in 2019 has dimmed. The US-China trade war and tightening financial conditions are expected to trigger a downturn. While the US is booming, most of the rest of the world is slowing or even stagnating. Financial conditions are tightening and trade tensions are intensifying.

The top two triggers for the next global downturn are a further escalation of US-Sino trade tensions, and tightening in financial conditions driven by a deep sell-off in global equities or a rapid rise in government bond yields. Even if aggregate costs are modest and skewed towards more open economies, all countries would ultimately be worse off compared to the status quo.

Only a slim majority expect US wage growth to pick up meaningfully before the next recession. The risk of a self-inflicted wound in the US is rising. The dominant downside risk to the global outlook remains America’s attempt to rebalance trade with China through tariff policy. With no let-up in the US-China trade war, growth forecasts point to more pain ahead - not just for developed but also emerging market economies.

The consequences of escalating trade actions are higher prices in China and the US, less purchasing power for consumers in these countries, higher input costs, heightened financial market volatility, and possibly higher interest rates.

Roica yarn has been used by Candiani to develop a new eco-smart denim range called ReLAST. Candiani, based in Italy, is a denim mill. Sustainability and innovation are values deeply woven into each fabric made by Candiani conferring inimitable quality and uniqueness. Roica is a yarn developed by Asahi Kasei.

Roica is a specially produced GRS certified yarn. This is a premium stretch fiber with an innovative range of smart functions to suit every modern wardrobe need. It shapes comfort with quality, performance and fit, adding value to everyday living for sport, intimates, fashion and business wear.

ReLAST is a range of market fresh responsible denim products, designed by Candiani that ticks every smart box: from new ways in coloration, to better, more sustainable raw materials, new finishing and fade-tech that minimises water waste, and now with a key responsible stretch ingredient in Roica. This yarn perfectly completes this range, making it better, more sustainable, sharp fashions for customers looking to live and wear better with better values. All ranges in the ReLAST collection have customized Roica advanced sustainable stretch yarns. Candiani and Asahi Kasei have rewritten the rules for responsible denim stretch manufacture, designing fashion forward denims that are now guaranteed completely 100 per cent sustainable.