The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said that benefits under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme, Service Export from India Scheme, Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies, and Rebate of State Levies have been “put on hold for a temporary period”. The government on Thursday said it has put on hold issuing benefits under various export promotion schemes due to changes in the allocation procedure. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said that benefits under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme, Service Export from India Scheme, Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies, and Rebate of State Levies have been “put on hold for a temporary period”. “During this period, no fresh applications would be allowed to be submitted at the online IT module of DGFT for these schemes and all submitted applications pending for issuance of scrips would also be on hold,” the DGFT said in a trade notice. It said that trade would be informed once issuance is opened once again. “This suspension will create uncertainty with respect to these benefits for the exporters and may also impact thier cash flows. The export industry would hope that this suspension is lifted soon and the benefits are made available in full and soon,” said Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner, EY. The suspension comes amid the government yet to notify the benefits rates under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) scheme that was put in place in January. Export bodies have been asking for release of the funds for MEIS, clarity on SEIS benefits and continuance of seamless refund of IGST to ease fund blockage. Merchandise exports grew a record $95 billion during April-June and India aims to clock $400 billion exports in FY22.
Source: Economic Times
PM Modi wants synergy between Commerce & Industry and Textiles sectors, the Minister said while taking charge of the Textile Ministry Prime Minister Narendra Modi envisions a synergy between Commerce and Industry and Textiles sectors, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said while taking on additional charge of the Ministry of Textiles on Thursday. He added that perhaps that was the reason he was given the charge of both Ministries. Goyal said he will ensure that the textiles sector can be further improved and exports can be boosted. “The Minister expressed confidence that there will be a big growth in this sector,” according to an official release issued by the Ministry of Textiles. Textiles is a big sector for employment and the government will try to give a big support to the income of all the people employed in this sector, especially women, the Minister said. Goyal has taken over the charge of the Textiles Ministry from Union Minister Smriti Irani who has retained the Ministry of Women & Child Development. The Minister added that the government wanted to promote Brand India and Indian textiles, which have earlier played an important role in building brand India. Goyal also continues to be the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
Source: The Hindu Businessline
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and (*15*) (CBIC) will enhance facilitation degree throughout all customs stations to 90% from July 15, to allow sooner clearances of non-risky imports, because it launched measures to expedite customs clearances.
Separate faceless assessment groups (FAG) for sure commodities that may contribute to income can even turn out to be lively from July 15. “With a view to facilitating faster decisions and, in turn, faster verification of self-assessment as well as to promote specialization and enhance uniformity in assessment, Board has decided to implement changes in the assessment procedure,” it stated. Working hours of all FAGs shall be uniform from 10 am until 8 pm on any working day, talk the ‘first decision’ on the Bill of Entry could have to be inside 3 working hours after its allocation and most three queries might be raised by an appraising officer in respect of a Bill of Entry, the Board added. All superior Bills of Entry which might be absolutely facilitated or don’t require assessment or examination, could be granted the ability of direct port supply, over and above the current system of entity-based direct port supply prolonged to authorised financial operator purchasers. Abhishek Jain, tax accomplice, EY, stated, “Post successful implementation of faceless assessment, its good to see the government further looking at enhancement areas. With re-organisation of faceless assessment groups, appointment of specialised FAGs, restriction of queries in respect of a BOE, etc, the industry is hopeful that the Customs clearance and assessments with be even more faster and free from error.” Expediting the assessment and customs clearance of imported items utilizing digital instruments would guarantee subsequent section of Faceless Assessment, easing International commerce in India, consultants added. “Easing customs clearances would also support ingrown domestic manufacturing entities, who depend on China for the import of technology and capital goods,” stated Rajat Mohan, senior accomplice at AMRG Associates.
Source: Economic Times
Piyush Goyal, the minister in charge of boosting trade and industry now also has charge of India’s second-largest employment-generating sector. This is expected to create more convergence in policymaking. In the midst of the resignations of major ministers, the flurry of new faces in the Cabinet and the reallocation of portfolios on July 7, little attention was paid to commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, who was given additional charge of the textiles ministry. Apart from handling India’s trade and industry, Goyal also held the railway and consumer affairs portfolios before the latest rejig. Now, the country has a new railway minister in Ashwini Vaishnaw while Goyal takes over the textiles ministry, previously headed by Smriti Irani. Goyal’s additional charge hasn’t come as a surprise for senior bureaucrats who say there’s been a push to bring the two ministries closer for a long time. Interestingly, both ministries are based in the historic Udyog Bhawan building in the heart of New Delhi, where the offices of their respective officials are separated by a simple corridor. “Over the years, discussions have been held multiple times to work towards bringing the textiles ministry under the commerce department, or at least bring it closer in operations. But most of those proposals were shot down,” a senior commerce department official said. The rationale behind such attempts was to create more convergence in policymaking, which would help to boost earnings and exports for India’s second-largest job creating sector, the official added.
Big business
In terms of employment, the textiles and apparel industry in India is only behind the overall agricultural sector. It provides direct employment to 45 million people and 60 million people in allied industries, according to Invest India, the government’s investment promotion arm. India is among the world’s largest producers of textiles products and apparel. The domestic textiles and apparel industry contributes 5 percent to India’s GDP, 7 percent of industry output in value terms and 12 percent of the country’s export earnings. The share of India’s textiles and apparel exports in mercantile exports was 11 percent in 2019-20. With the commerce minister now responsible for the sector, the unique trade issues that have eaten away at India’s competitiveness in the global market for textiles are now expected to be given more focus. Indian companies and exporters have continuously lost market share overseas to more aggressive rivals from China, Bangladesh and Thailand. This has been excruciatingly large in segments like apparel. What to expect The latest move is expected to refocus efforts on drawing more investments in the sector, which received $3.75 billion till March 2021. The same is expected for manufacturing. While there are almost a dozen incentive schemes for manufacturing, myriad issues ranging from the lack of working capital and outdated technology to the fragmented nature of supply chains have held it back. To double the industry size to $190 billion by 2025-26, seven mega textile parks have been planned. Closer alignment between the ministries is also expected to lead to synergies in policymaking, as was seen in the case of manufacturing personal protective equipment, said a senior person aware of the matter. India became the second-largest manufacturer of PPE in the world, quickly certifying more than 600 companies to produce them. As a result, the industry’s global market worth is expected to be over $92.5 billion by 2025, up from $52.7 billion in 2019, according to government estimates.
Source: Money Control
The eligibility of states to receive this grant and the quantum of grant was decided by the Commission based on the gap between assessment of revenue and expenditure of the state after taking into account the assessed devolution for the financial year 2021-22. The finance ministry on Thursday said it has released the fourth monthly installment of post devolution revenue deficit grant of Rs 9,871 crore to 17 states. With the release of this installment, a total amount of Rs 39,484 crore has been released to eligible states in current financial year. "The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, has released the 4th monthly installment of Post Devolution Revenue Deficit (PDRD) Grant of Rs 9,871 crore to the states yesterday," an official statement said. The post devolution revenue deficit grant is provided to the states under Article 275 of the Constitution. The grants are released as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission in monthly installments to meet the gap in revenue accounts of the states post devolution. The Commission has recommended PDRD grants to 17 states during 2021-22. The eligibility of states to receive this grant and the quantum of grant was decided by the Commission based on the gap between assessment of revenue and expenditure of the state after taking into account the assessed devolution for the financial year 2021-22. The Fifteenth Finance Commission has recommended a total Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant of Rs 1,18,452 crore to 17 states in the financial year 2021-22. The states recommended for this grant by the 15th Finance Commission are -- Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
Source: Economic Times
The textile sector has huge prospects in Odisha with adoption of modern technology, use of quality raw materials and improved skill of the workers to meet the demand of growing world fashion industry and emerging direct customers buying online. Odisha is included among 10 major cotton producing States of India and more than 60 per cent of the textile industries are cotton dependent. Odisha has the natural advantage of availability of raw materials and traditional skill workers which has not been systematically taped to meet the worldwide export possibilities as well as increasing demand of domestic consumers. The major textile mills and cotton producing States including Maharashtra, Gujarat, TN, UP, Karnataka, MP, Rajasthan and WB have a rich scope of employment and economic growth where the migrant workers from Odisha and other backward States are employed. The Department of Industrial and Policy Promotion data shows that five top States including AP, Telangana, Haryana, Jharkhand and Gujarat are most suitable places for doing textile business. The places such as Vizag, Gurugram, Faridabad, Panipat, Surat, Ahmadabad and Vapi are emerging textile manufacturing hubs. India is among world’s largest producer and exporter after China which is the largest manufacturer and exporter of textile products. The other countries in the segment include Germany, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Italy, Turkey, USA, Hong Kong, and Spain. China has about one third of the world’s export of textile while in recent years Bangladesh and Vietnam have done better with increase in manufacturing and export due to the advantage of domestic labour policy and current change in international trade practices. India is one of the largest producers of fiber that includes cotton, silk, wool, jute and other man-made fibers. The textile industry in India is still unorganized and continues in small scale operation. It is time to shift to modern machinery and techniques at a greater scale to thrive in the competitive world market. The success of China is more linked to its low cost production by use of hi-tech machinery and quality raw materials along with labour policy and above all, an open market approach to investment. The countries such as Spain and Germany are more engaged in manufacturing of textile machines such as spinning, weaving and dyeing etc. The USA is more into medical textile, protective equipment and industrial fabrics and mostly non-woven or not knitted items such as carpets, home furnished fabrics, medical products, electric conductive fabric and diapers. Italy has been focusing on e-textiles such as electronic components woven with fabric. In India textile sector is one the biggest employers after agriculture. The agriculture sector has been over burdened so far as employment is concerned. The textile sector in India must have to expand to accommodate the surplus labour force from agriculture by modernising both sectors. Textile is labour intensive and can employ more people with its wider expansion. The major advantage with India is the availability of quality raw materials specially jute, cotton, wool, and synthetic fiber. The textile industries in India are mostly facing the issues of labour unrest and shutdowns for a number of political and economic reasons which need to be addressed by the Government with a suitable policy. It is reported that around 600 textile mills were closed due to the strike by the trade unions. The Government of Odisha, Handloom, Textile and Handicraft Department has not changed its traditional approach to the development of textile industry of the State in spite of the huge potentialities in the sector. Unfortunately, textile in Odisha is being seen as a caste based occupation and traditional cottage industry where as the approach to its development is more welfare beneficiary centric without addressing the main economic cause of its underdevelopment. There has been no substantial investment and macro planning to change the production process by use of technology and application of modern knowhow. There are about 65,000 weaver households in the State having traditional skill but the Government approach must be changed to cope with new developments happening globally in all sectors including textile. The Directorate of Export Promotion and Manufacturing, Government of Odisha data shows that the share of handloom, handicraft and textile together is not even one per cent of the share of value of exports of the State. More than 90 per cent of the exports of the State to about 100 countries of the world are mainly minerals and metallurgical products. But long ago, Odisha was a major exporter of textile products. The move of the State Government must be to do away with the traditional approach to strengthen a caste-based occupation to build a modern manufacturing sector by inviting open investment, new technology and inducting skill and exposure among the workers of all social groups. It must learn from other States to make best use of its raw materials and manpower available and make a roadmap in line with global trend in textile sector inviting FDI. Odisha has opportunity in production of cotton, jute and silk. India is second largest producer of silk. The sericulture industry in the State has all potentialities to engage large numbers of people in activities such as plantation of the host plant to rearing of the silk worm and its extraction. Currently, about 12,000 hectares of land used for seri farming in the State mostly engages the ST population. The Ministry of Textile has made special grants under the provision of the Scheduled Caste sub plan and Scheduled Tribe sub plan for promotion of textile but unfortunately, the Odisha Government has no such scheme to engage these communities. Similarly, the weavers and cotton and jute farmers largely belong to the OBC who need to be supported to grow raw materials for textile industry and effort should be made to set up manufacturing units in the areas such as Kalahandi for cotton and jute in eastern coastal part and silk in scheduled areas to engage the local people both in production and processing. There is also a need for building infrastructure and amenities centers and hubs forresearch, training, marketing and linking the stakeholders.
Source: Daily Pioneer
If investment by large companies comes back, it will aid loan growth in banking, said Tushar Pradhan, CIO of HSBC Global AMC. Pradhan also expects good demand from textiles and petroleum products. Speaking in an interview with CNBC-TV18, he said, “There is a lot of liquidity now with the banks. We haven’t seen a significant credit offtake for quite some time. However, most of the credit has gone to the more personal type of loans or smaller loans, but not large companies because of lack of investment -- there is no investment drive as such and if that happens then we should see strong asset growth come back to the banks after a very difficult period and that looks attractive.” “The export surge has been a bit of a surprise. We do not really know which sectors are going to contribute to this growth and what are we going to export out of India, which is going to substantially change the picture, going forward. However, we have seen interesting demand come from textiles, we are seeing a lot of petroleum products going out, but the picture is uncertain; these are very early days in terms of establishing which companies will continue to export with that kind of momentum,” Pradhan said. According to him, mutual fund managers always make incremental purchases. “For us, mutual fund managers, there is always going to be incremental purchases; so I am perpetually a buyer and that’s how one should look at the market.” “However, not to say that there is blue sky and wonders ahead. There are going to be a lot of uncertainties, for example, the latest COVID variant, Delta is causing a lot of problems and how this will lead to economies and whether it will really have a problem going forward, we do not know, but as of now, it’s probably lack of opportunity. The very visible nature of earnings growth is fueling the valuation picture at the moment,” said Pradhan. On autos, Pradhan believes that while the recent semiconductor shortage might be a global issue, it is also a short-term constraint for auto companies.
Source: CNBC TV18
The Union cabinet Thursday approved a Rs 23,123-crore package for improving health infrastructure to fight COVID-19 as part of which around 2.4 lakh medical beds and 20,000 ICU ones would be created with a special focus on paediatric care. The Union cabinet Thursday approved a Rs 23,123-crore package for improving health infrastructure to fight COVID-19 as part of which around 2.4 lakh medical beds and 20,000 ICU ones would be created with a special focus on paediatric care. Addressing a press conference here after the first meeting of the Union cabinet following its reshuffle on Wednesday, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the package will be implemented over the next nine months till March 2022. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mandaviya said this is the second phase of the Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package as the Central government had given Rs 15,000 crore earlier for setting up Covid-dedicated hospitals and health centres across the country. Under the new package, the Centre would provide Rs 15,000 crore and states Rs 8,123 crore, and the plan would be implemented jointly by them across all the 736 districts to improve medical infrastructure at primary and district health centres. Around 2.4 lakh normal medical beds and 20,000 ICU beds would be created of which 20 percent would be specially earmarked for children, he said. The minister said storage facilities for oxygen and medicines would also be created at district level under the plan. An official statement said states and UTs would be supported to create paediatric units in all 736 districts and to establish Paediatric Centre of Excellence in each state and UT (either in medical colleges, state government hospitals or central hospitals such as AIIMS, INIs, etc) for providing tele-ICU services, mentoring and technical hand-holding to the district paediatric units. They would be supported to augment 20,000 ICU beds in public healthcare system out of which 20 per cent will be pediatric ICU beds, it said. The Phase-II of the package has central sector (CS) and centrally-sponsored schemes (CSS) components. The statement said that under the central sector components, support would be provided to central hospitals, All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, and other Institutions of National Importance under DoHFW for repurposing 6,688 beds for COVID-19 management. National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) would be strengthened by providing genome sequencing machines, besides sanctioning scientific control room, epidemic intelligence services (EIS) and other support, it said. Support would be provided for the implementation of Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) in all the district hospitals of the country (presently, it is implemented only in 310 DHs), the statement said. All district hospitals would implement HMIS through NIC-developed e-Hospital and CDAC developed E-Shushrutsoftwares. This will be the biggest impetus for implementation of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) at the DHs, the statement said. Support would also be provided for expanding the national architecture of eSanjeevani tele-consultation platform to provide upto 5 lakhs tele-consultations per day from the present 50,000, the statement said. Support would also be provided for IT interventions, including strengthening the Central War room at DoHFW, strengthening the COVID-19 Portal, the 1075 COVID help lines and Co-WIN platform, the statement said. Under the CSS components, efforts are aimed at strengthening district and sub-district capacity for an effective and rapid response to the pandemic. States and UTs would be helped to provide care closer to the community due to the ingress of COVID-19 in rural, peri-urban and tribal areas, by creating pre-fabricated structures for adding additional beds at the existing CHCs, PHCs and SHCs (6-20 bedded units) and support would also be provided to establish bigger field hospitals (50-100 bedded units) depending on the needs at tier-II or tier-III cities and district HQs, the statement said. They would be given help to install 1,050 liquid medical oxygen storage tanks with medical gas pipeline system (MGPS) with an aim to support at least one such unit per district and augment the existing feet of ambulances, the statement said. As many as 8,800 ambulances will be added under the package, it said. Undergraduate and post graduate medical interns and final year MMBS, BSc and GNM nursing students would be engaged for effective Covid management, it added. In March 2020, when the country was faced with the first wave of the COVID 19 pandemic, the PM announced a Central Sector Scheme of Rs. 15,000 crore as the 'India COVID 19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package', the statement said. Since mid-February 2021, the country is experiencing a second wave with spread into rural, peri-urban and tribal areas, the statement added.
Source: Business Standard
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that there should be no space for carelessness or complacency and that a single mistake would have far-reaching impact and may weaken the fight against the pandemic. Expressing his concern over the sight of crowded places with people not following COVID19 norms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that there should be no space for carelessness or complacency and that a single mistake would have far-reaching impact and may weaken the fight against the pandemic. Interacting with members of the Council of Ministers a day after he reshuffled and expanded it, he said India's fight against the pandemic is underway with full vigour with steady vaccination drive and high testing, while sounding a note of caution against any complacency. "PM said that with the Covid infection numbers being fewer than what they were in the recent months, people may want to venture out. However, everyone must remember that the threat of COVID-19 is far from over. Many other nations are seeing surges in infections. The virus is also mutating," a source said. He told ministers that the aim should not be to instill fear but to request people to keep taking all possible precautions so that the nation is able to move beyond this pandemic in the times to come. He also asked ministers to reach office on time and channelise all their energy into their ministerial work, saying their focus should be on helping the most deprived people. He said the new ministers can meet their predecessors and learn from their experience, sources said. He told the new ministers that those no longer part of the government have made contributions and newcomers can learn from them, the sources said. In a word of advice, he said it is the work that only matters and the ministers should not get trapped in the vicious circle of grabbing media attention. He said ministers should avoid making unnecessary statements.
Source: Business Standard
Cambodian exports in the first five months of 2021 were worth $5.982 billion, up 1.6 per cent year-on-year, while non-gold imports surged 17 per cent to $8.664 billion, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Although the Cambodian economy continues to be affected by the February 20 community outbreak of the novel coronavirus, international trade remained in growth territory overJanuary-May, clocking in at $14.646 billion, the ministry said in a report on socio-economic trends released early this month. Exports were equal to 20.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and were mainly driven up by bicycles and other non-textile goods, it said. And non-gold imports were 30.2 per cent of GDP, and were buoyed by fabrics, construction materials, fuel and other goods, it added. The latest outbreak – Cambodia’s third – persists, and is putting pressure on key economic sectors, it said, adding that the Kingdom is striving to ensure robust GDP growth for this year. “The Cambodian economy is expected to grow positively in 2021 due to the recovery of the global economic situation and the economy of Cambodia’s trading partners; the growing demand for agricultural products; and the possibility of” attracting garment factories relocating from Myanmar and taking on more export orders as international buyers abandon the coup-hit country, the report said. Cambodia Chamber of Commerce vice-president Lim Heng told The Post on July 8 that this was “good data” that signalled growth in Cambodia’s international trade during the difficult period of the Covid-19 crisis. He downplayed the surge in imports, asserting that the goods served as a tool for beefing up the Kingdom’s export capacity, pointing out that a sizable portion were raw materials used in production chains. The rise in raw-material imports indicates that Cambodia’s economic activity is gradually recovering, he said, stressing that raw materials are only bought when there are orders for finished products. “I am not worried about the increase in imports – which was close to 20 per cent – because most of the imported products are raw materials that support, or are used in the production chain to produce for export to the international market. “Through the increase in imports of raw materials, I hope that Cambodia’s exports from now to the end of the year will have a better growth rate than in the beginning of the year,” Heng said. He also said the political crisis in Myanmar, which has lasted for more than five months, would also provide an opportunity for Cambodia to increase its export capacity. Hong Vanak, director of International Economics at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said trade deficits are generally a “negative sign”, but if raw materials for processing and export make up a substantial share of imports, “it is good”. He added that the gains in fabric and fuel imports could be a sign that exports of finished textile products will increase, undergirded by preferential access to markets granted by regional and bilateral trade deals involving the Kingdom. “International trade now is a sign of economic strength and exports down the line,” Vanak said. Last year, the total value of Cambodian international trade surged to $35.80585 billion, up by 2.54 per cent over 2019, Ministry of Commerce said in its 2020 annual performance report. Cambodia exported $17.21537 billion worth of goods last year, up by 16.72 per cent from $14.74874 billion in 2019, while imports slipped 7.84 per cent to $18.59048 billion in 2020 from $20.17181 billion in the year before. The country’s trade deficit narrowed 74.64 per cent to $1.37511 billion in 2020, from $5.42307 billion in the previous year.
Source: Phnompenh Post
The European economy is projected to rebound faster than previously expected as activity in the first quarter of the year exceeded expectations and the improved health situation prompted a swifter easing of pandemic control restrictions in the second quarter, according to the Summer 2021 interim economic forecast by the European Commission. The economy in the European Union (EU) and the euro area is set to expand by 4.8 per cent this year and by 4.5 per cent in 2022, the forecast said. Compared to the previous forecast in the spring, the growth rate for 2021 is significantly higher in the EU and the euro area, while for 2022, it is slightly higher in both areas. Real gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to return to its pre-crisis level in the last quarter of 2021 in both the EU and the euro area. For the euro area, this is one quarter earlier than expected in the Spring Forecast, according to a press release from the Commission. Growth is expected to strengthen due to several factors. First, activity in the first quarter of the year exceeded expectations. Second, an effective virus containment strategy and progress with vaccinations led to falling numbers of new infections and hospitalisations, which in turn allowed EU member states to reopen their economies in subsequent quarter. This reopening benefited service sector businesses in particular. Upbeat survey results among consumers and businesses as well as data tracking mobility suggest that a strong rebound in private consumption is already under way. In addition, there is evidence of a revival in intra-EU tourist activity, which should further benefit from the entry into application of the new EU Digital COVID Certificate as of July 1. Together, these factors are expected to outweigh the adverse impact of the temporary input shortages and rising costs hitting parts of the manufacturing sector. Private consumption and investment are expected to be the main drivers of growth, supported by employment that is expected to move in tandem with economic activity. Strong growth in the EU's main trading partners should benefit EU goods exports, whereas service exports are set to suffer from remaining constraints to international tourism. The forecast for inflation this year and next has also been revised higher. Rising energy and commodity prices, production bottlenecks due to capacity constraints and the shortage of some input components and raw materials, as well as strong demand both at home and abroad are expected to put upward pressure on consumer prices this year. In 2022, these pressures should moderate gradually as production constraints are resolved and supply and demand converge, the forecast said. Accordingly, inflation in the EU is now forecast to average at 2.2 per cent this year and 1.6 per cent in 2022. In the euro area, inflation is forecast to average at 1.9 per cent in 2021 and 1.4 per cent in 2022.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
While it’s easy to engineer clothing that keeps you warm, it’s far harder to come up with an outfit that can keep you cool on a scorching summer day. Now, researchers have designed a fabric that looks like an everyday T-shirt, but can cool the body by nearly 5°C. They say the technology, if mass produced, could help people around the world protect themselves against rising temperatures caused by climate change. To make clothing that beats back the Sun, fashion designers typically use light-colored fabric, which reflects visible light. But another method reflects the Sun’s electromagnetic radiation, including ultraviolet (UV) and near-infrared (NIR) radiation. NIR warms objects that absorb it and slowly cools them as they emit it. That cooling process, however, is stymied by our atmosphere: After being emitted from an object, NIR is often absorbed by nearby water molecules, heating up the surrounding air. To speed up the cooling process, researchers are turning to mid-infrared radiation (MIR), a type of IR with longer wavelengths. Instead of being absorbed by molecules in the surrounding air, MIR energy goes directly into space, cooling both the objects and their surroundings. This technique is known as radiative cooling, and engineers have used it over the past decade to design roofs, plastic films, wood, and ultra-white paints. Human skin, unlike many of the clothes we wear, naturally emits MIR. In 2017, Stanford University researchers designed a fabric that lets MIR from the human body pass directly through it, cooling the wearer by about 3° C. But to work, the fabric had to be very thin—only 45 micrometers, or about one-third the thickness of a lightweight linen dress shirt. That led some researchers to question its durability. To design a thicker fabric, engineers Ma Yaoguang of Zhejiang University and Tao Guangming of Huazhong University of Science and Technology took a different approach. Rather than letting MIR from the skin pass straight through their fabric, they and colleagues designed a textile that used chemical bonds to absorb body heat and re-emit its energy into space as MIR. The 550 micrometer fabric—made of a polylactic acid and synthetic fiber blend with titanium dioxide nanoparticles scattered throughout—also reflects UV, visible, and NIR light, further cooling the wearer. Even though it looks like a regular shirt, “optically, it’s a mirror,” Tao says. To test their creation, the researchers assembled a snug-fitting vest, with one half made of their fabric and the other made of white cotton of about the same thickness. A graduate student donned the vest and sat in a lawn chair in direct sunlight for 1 hour. When the researchers measured his skin temperature, the side under the new fabric was almost 5° C cooler than the side under the cotton, they report today in Science. To an infrared camera, the contrast was clearly visible, and Tao says the student could feel the temperature difference. “This is all interesting,” says Yi Cui, the Stanford materials scientist who led the previous work and whose lab has continued working on mid-IR transparent fabrics. But he adds that, because MIR-emitting technology has so far been used on stationary surfaces that constantly face the sky, the authors of the new work should also measure how well their fabric cools when people are standing or walking. He also wonders whether the fabric works as well when it is loosely fitted, since the cooling element relies on its close contact with the skin. Evelyn Wang, a mechanical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shares some of Cui’s concerns. But she adds that the work speaks to speedy progress in the area of radiative cooling. “This kind of approach has advantages because it can enable a use of a broader range of materials and feel much more like cotton, which is important for the user.” Ma and Tao are now reaching out to textile manufacturers and clothing companies to try to get their fabric on shelves. They say the nanomaterial-infused fabric should add only about 10% to typical clothing manufacturing costs. “We can make it with mass production, which means everybody can get a T-shirt … and the cost is basically the same as their old stuff,” Ma says. “It can benefit everybody.”
Source: Science Mag
The recently held Frankfurt Fashion SDG Summit, that brought together leading industry stakeholders along with UN representatives and public officials, strongly focused on fashion sustainability. The conference was presented by the Conscious Fashion Campaign and realised by Messe Frankfurt, in co-operation with the United Nations Office for Partnerships. Designers, politicians, scientists, and climate activists spoke with one voice for the urgently needed transformation of the fashion and textile industry. The textile and fashion industry is one of the world's largest contributors to CO2 emissions and water pollution. Accordingly, there is great leverage when it comes to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 in the fashion industry and creating a better world with measures to fight poverty, injustice and exploitation and halt climate change, according to a press release by Messe Frankfurt. Transformative change and innovative thinking across the full global supply chain are needed to accelerate a significant change process. The new Frankfurt Fashion SDG Summit provided valuable impulses on initiating multi-stakeholder collaboration, sharing knowledge around sustainability and activating the entire fashion sector to make the fashion industry more sustainable on an international level, at these crucial junctures. The topics of the Frankfurt Fashion SDG Summit were aligned with the priorities announced by UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, for 2021 to achieve the SDGs by 2030. Keynotes, interviews, panel discussions, and performances highlighted the global problem areas of the fashion and textile industry and showed solutions for a sustainable future: sensible business, in harmony with nature, responsible towards people in a globalised world, this is how a new fashion era can emerge, according to Messe Frankfurt. A scientific perspective on the dramatic situation in the oceans, which is largely due to the fashion industry, was brought to the conference by professor Boetius, director at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. The first Frankfurt Fashion SDG Summit formed one of the core elements of the digital Frankfurt Fashion Week and could also radiate to the other formats of the Frankfurt Fashion Week. Thus, a clear awareness of the urgency of the topic of sustainability is omni-present. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were made visible and tangible for an international fashion and lifestyle community to tangibly drive change in the industry. From 2023 onwards, the SDGs will also become a binding condition of participation for all exhibiting companies at the Premium, Seek, and Neonyt trade fairs.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
