Surge is likely to generate 7.5-10 million new jobs Backed by the 'China Plus One' sentiment globally, India’s textile exports is expected to grow by 81 per cent to $65 billion by 2026 from the pre-Covid level of around $36 billion in 2019, said a report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and global consulting firm Kearney. This jump is likely to generate 7.5-10 million new jobs. A large chunk of this targeted increase, or around $16 billion may come from the China Plus One sentiment due to India’s relatively large strategic depth compared with Vietnam or Bangladesh, the report said. “We believe with the right actions from the industry majors and robust execution of government schemes, India can hit $65 billion in exports (implying 9-10 per cent compound annual growth rate) by 2026. This, coupled with growth in domestic consumption, could propel domestic production to reach $160 billion,” said Siddharth Jain, Partner, Kearney. Other key areas where the growth is expected include fabrics where the target is a $4 billion jump by positioning India as a regional fabric hub, starting with cotton wovens and then extending to other sub-categories. In home textiles too, the target is an increase of $4 billion by building on existing advantages to expand the global customer base. On man-made fiber and yarn a $2.5 billion to $3 billion jump is expected with a focus on gaining share in MMF (man made fiber) products. On the other hand, in technical textiles around $2 billion jump is targeted by building capabilities in select key sub-segments on the back of potential domestic demand growth. “Covid-19 has triggered the redistribution of global trade shares and a recalibration of sourcing patterns (“China plus one” sourcing), providing a golden opportunity for Indian textiles to stage a turnaround and regain a leadership position as a top exporting economy. We believe India’s textile industry should target 8-9 per cent CAGR during 2019–2026, driven by domestic demand growth and significant growth in annual exports (reaching $65 billion by 2026)” says Neelesh Hundekari, Partner and APAC Head of Lifestyle Practice at Kearney. The Textile industry employs almost 45 million people in the farming and manufacturing sectors. However, the country’s recent performance in global trade has not been commensurate with its abilities. Exports declined by 3 per cent during 2015–2019 and by 18.7 per cent in 2020. And yet during the same period, other low-cost countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam have gained share. A variety of factors have contributed to India’s recent trade performance. India has factor cost disadvantages (example, power costs 30 to 40 percent more in India than it does in Bangladesh). Lack of free or preferential trade agreements with key importers, such as the European Union, United Kingdom, and Canada for apparel as well as Bangladesh for fabrics, puts pricing pressure on exporters. The high cost of capital and high reliance on imports for almost all textiles machinery makes it difficult to earn the right return on invested capital, especially given India’s slight cost disadvantage. Longer lead times than for Chinese manufacturers make India uncompetitive, especially in the fashion segment.
Source: Business Standard
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in the 16th East Asia Summit earlier today via videoconference. The 16th East Asia Summit was hosted by Brunei as EAS and ASEAN Chair. It saw the participation of leaders from ASEAN countries and other EAS Participating Countries including Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, USA and India. India has been an active participant of EAS. This was Prime Minister’s 7th East Asia Summit. In his remarks at the Summit, Prime Minister reaffirmed the importance of EAS as the premier leaders-led forum in Indo-Pacific, bringing together nations to discuss important strategic issues. Prime Minister highlighted India’s efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic through vaccines and medical supplies. Prime Minister also spoke about "Atmanirbhar Bharat” Campaign for post-pandemic recovery and in ensuring resilient global value chains. He emphasized on the establishment of a better balance between economy and ecology and climate sustainable lifestyle. The 16th EAS also discussed important regional and international issues including IndoPacifc, South China Sea, UNCLOS, terrorism, and situation in Korean Peninsula and Myanmar. PM reaffirmed "ASEAN centrality” in the Indo-Pacific and highlighted the synergies between ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI). The EAS leaders adopted three Statements on Mental Health, Economic recovery through Tourism and Sustainable Recovery, which have been co-sponsored by India. Overall, the Summit saw a fruitful exchange of views between Prime Minister and other EAS leaders.
Source: PIB
Emphasising that new India is evolving as a job creator rather than a job creator, he said the SCO platform will help in innovation and cross-border learnings and the number of unicorns went up to three per month from two per month. India can meaningfully contribute in bringing together the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries to produce startup leaders and unicorns, industry secretary Anurag Jain said on Wednesday. Emphasising that new India is evolving as a job creator rather than a job creator, he said the SCO platform will help in innovation and cross-border learnings and the number of unicorns went up to three per month from two per month. “Member states need to come together and share their experiences and learnings while developing a startup culture and co-create a vibrant start-up community in Asia and the global platform. India can meaningfully contribute in bringing together the SCO countries to produce startup leaders and unicorns,” Jain said at the second edition of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Startup Forum organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in partnership with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Jain said that the SCO is an important mechanism for shaping regional policies and ensuring security and sustainable development, and the startup forum aims to achieve the objectives of empowering local startup ecosystems in member states, providing value to startups through knowledge sharing workshops, enabling access to investors and corporates, and exchange best practices. “Headwinds created by Covid-19 in the ecosystem will have a lasting impact on the ecological, geopolitical, socioeconomic and health across the world,” Jain said, adding that the pandemic has created a sense of oneness in the global community and most countries’ startup ecosystem has contributed to combat the challenge posed by Covid-19.
Source: Economic Times
The Prime Minister has approved the reconstitution of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM (EAC-PM) for a period of two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” the cabinet secretariat said in a notification dated October 27. The government has reconstituted the seven-member Economic Advisory Council to the PM for a period of two years after its term came to an end last month. Rakesh Mohan, Poonam Gupta and TT Ram Mohan have been appointed as part-time members of the reconstituted EAC-PM while V Anantha Nageswaran has been dropped. Bibek Debroy continues to be the chairman of the Council. The other part-time members of the Council include Sajid Chenoy, Neelkanth Mishra and Nilesh Shah. “The Prime Minister has approved the reconstitution of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM (EAC-PM) for a period. As per the notification, the Council has been tasked to analyse any issue, economic or otherwise, referred to it by the PM and advising him thereon besides addressing issues of macroeconomic importance and presenting views to the PM. “This could be either suomotu or on reference from the PM or anyone else,” it said, adding that the Council may attend to any other task as may be desired by the PM from time to time. The EAC-PM is an independent body to advise the government, especially the prime minister, on economic and policyrelated matters. It was set up in September 2017 with a term of two years, replacing the erstwhile PMEAC, which was headed by former Reserve Bank of India governor C Rangarajan during the terms of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Source: Economic Times
N K Singh, Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, on Tuesday said the IMF's decision to revise India's potential growth forecast downwards to 6 per cent citing the coronavirus pandemic is a "gross under estimation" and observed that calculations of growth potential are always problematic. Speaking at a virtual discussion on 'Financing For Development' organised by the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), he also said there was a need to ensure that those who escaped poverty do not go back into poverty on account of exogenous factors like the pandemic. "The issue of our medium term growth potential projected by the IMF last week by recaliberating it from 6.25 per cent to 6 per cent, in my view, is gross under estimation. "Calculations of growth potential are always problematic," he said. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised India's potential growth forecast downwards India's growth is projected at 9.5 per cent in financial year 2021-22 and 8.5 per cent in FY 2022-23, reflecting base effects and strong global growth, he said. Potential growth is the rate of growth that an economy can sustain over the medium term without generating excess inflation. Singh, who is also the President of the Institute of Economic Growth , said there was a need to raise India's tax ratio, both from macroeconomic and redistributive perspective, and also enhance fiscal space for financing public outlays. Terming the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as a "path breaking reform", Singh said revenue data in the last few months have also suggested encouraging revenue share from the GST. "Nonetheless, there are some serious medium term challenges as far as GST is concerned," he said, adding that the issue of revenue neutral rate is a challenging one. Singh also emphasised on the need for broadening the base of both direct and indirect taxes, and reducing exemptions and increasing compliancto 6 per cent citing the pandemic.
Source: Economic Times
Telangana’s industrial policy TS-iPass is one of the best in the country and industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is working with the State government to attract more investments in textiles, electronics and pharma sectors, said CII southern region chairman C K Ranganathan. CII is working with the State Government and industry for boosting demand, facilitating private and public investment, job creation and increasing demand for exports, he said in a virtual session on `Key Priorities for 2021-22′. Advocating continued engagement with districts to promote industrial growth and job creation in tier II towns, he said CII had earlier brought out District Development Plans for Warangal and Nizamabad to promote them as investment destinations. ‘Make in Telangana’, the CII’s flagship initiative together with the Telangana Government to showcase products and services of Telangana, will be held in November last week. It is also working with the Government for strengthening the IPR ecosystem in Telangana, registration of geographical indications for horticulture products, and also for a State IP Policy, he said. During Covid, the Telangana Government acted quickly to implement a work-from-home programme across industries. It took care that essential services and manufacturing segments were not affected due to the Covid restrictions. In case of a third wave, the Government should implement the lockdown in advance but should focus on micro-management rather than opting for a blanket lockdown. This will save lives and protect the livelihoods of people, he suggested. CII donated 17 ventilators, about 20,000 N95 masks and 100 oxygen concentrators apart from helping select government hospitals to set up oxygen generation plants. It also donated four vehicles to be used as ambulance for children, he said adding that the industry body will launch a pilot of Light House, a business strategies mentoring programme for MSMEs, in Telangana soon. CII Telangana Chairman Sameer Goel said that Telangana’s Electric Vehicles, Logistics, Food Processing, IT/ITES policies along with sectoral policies have provided confidence among industry. The State with its many incubators and research institutions is now among the startup friendly States. He also mentioned that CII is organising programmes suiting requirements of MSMEs.
Source: Telangana Today
Overseas buyers from over 90 countries including the US, China, UAE, UK, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia have registered for the fair, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) said on Wednesday. Buyers from global companies and departmental stores such as Wikholm Form AB and Nordlys Design AB of Sweden, Landmark Group, Homecentre LLC and Homes R Us, Lals Group of the UAE, Rex London and Harewood International Products Ltd from the UK, and Midway Sales, Webbed Sphere Inc and Uttermost Company, USA, are visiting the IHGF-Delhi fair being held from October 28-31 at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida. Overseas buyers from over 90 countries including the US, China, UAE, UK, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia have registered for the fair, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) said on Wednesday. Raj Kumar Malhotra, chairman, EPCH said that over 2,000 new products and more than 300 design expressions spanning across 12 product categories such as houseware, home furnishing, furniture, gifts and decoratives, lamps and lighting, Christmas & festive décor, fashion jewellery & accessories, spa & wellness, carpets and rugs, bathroom accessories, garden accessories, educational toys & games, handmade paper products & stationery and leather bags. The exhibition will have representation of over 650 exhibitors in eight halls and 900 permanent showrooms in the mart area. It is being held in the physical format this year. “The show will also have visitors from major Indian retail/online brands including Amazon, Reliance Brands Limited, Landmark Group (India), Fab India, NSE -2.17 % ltd, Furniturewalla, Westside, The Bombay Store, Home Town, Godrej Interio, India Bazar, Signify India (Formerly Philips Lighting), Future Group, NSE -1.16 % , etc,” the council said in a statement. India’s handicrafts exports in the first six months of FY22 rose 60.34% on-year.
Source: Economic Times
Leading textile manufacturer Arvind Ltd on Wednesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 71.06 crore for the second quarter ended September 2021, helped by volume growth across segments. Leading textile manufacturer Arvind Ltd on Wednesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 71.06 crore for the second quarter ended September 2021, helped by volume growth across segments. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 5.86 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year, Arvind said in a regulatory filing. Its revenue from operations during July-September 2021 stood at Rs 2,115.14 crore, a jump of 62.05 per cent as against Rs 1,305.17 crore in the year-ago period. Arvind's total expenses were at Rs 2,016.71 crore, an increase of 53.19 per cent as against Rs 1,316.40 crore a year ago. "Volumes grew across all segments as post-COVID-19 demand stayed strong in both export and domestic markets. Input costs continued to increase sharply but were mostly offset by improved price realisation and higher efficiencies," said Arvind Ltd in a postearnings statement. Its revenue from textiles was up 70.69 per cent to Rs 1,726.49 crore as against Rs 1,011.43 crore a year ago. While advance material stood at Rs 298.28 crore, up 60.49 per cent as against Rs 185.85 crore of the year-ago period. Arvind Ltd is one of the largest textile companies in India. Shares of Arvind Ltd were trading at Rs 128.90 on the BSE in the afternoon trade, down 5.88 per cent from the previous close.
Source: Business Standard
China's commerce ministry recently issued a plan for using foreign direct investment (FDI) capital in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). The country will continue to boost high-level opening-up to attract global high-quality resources, the ministry said last week. It has also pledged to improve the quality of FDI use while keeping the quantity stable. FDI will help further improve the industrial and supply chains while improving the business environment for foreign investors, the plan document was cited as saying by Chinese media reports. China should rank among the top destinations globally in terms of the scale of FDI use and its position as a major country in FDI use should remain steady, it said. The structure of FDI use should improve and the interaction of FDI with outbound direct investment, foreign trade and domestic consumption should grow during the period, the plan said. In the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China used $698.9 billion worth FDI, up by 10.4 per cent from the 12th Five-Year Plan period and setting a record high for the country.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
US apparel imports from China have moderated this year, which paired with the prevalent trade tensions, might give the impression that US apparel imports are shifting away from China. But the data is not clear on this as some categories see a secular fall across all partners. There are also data reporting issues which render any such conclusion very hasty. US textile and apparel imports had begun to return to their usual trajectory lately, with home textile imports falling from their high last year and apparel imports inching back towards pre-Covid levels. Supply chain bottlenecks have now become the most pressing problem as shipments get lined on US ports, and delays mount to exorbitant levels. Delays are such, that Hapag Lloyd and CMA CGM have reportedly alerted their customers about cancelling calls to the Port of Savannah, one of the largest ports in the US recently. US imports had seen a tremendous jump in the first half of 2021, only to be caught in the logjam created by the demand itself. US textile and clothing imports, although continue to rise on a m-o-m basis in Aug-21, it registered a negative growth relative to the previous year. This is in contrast to the overall retail sales in the US, which continue to rise on both m-o-m and y-o-y basis. As figure 1 would suggest, domestic sales are booming in the US (even if the pace has reduced since Mar-21), while import demand for textiles and clothing have been impacted heavily due to the shipping bottlenecks and consistently rising logistics costs. US imports back to usual trends Since, apparel and home textiles are the two largest categories of textiles imports in the US, let us have a quick look into how these have performed. During the lockdown phase, demand for home textiles increased tremendously as consumers found renewed interest in maintaining health and hygiene and reinventing their personal space . US’ Home textiles imports touched USD 21.7 billion in 2020 compared to USD 9.4 billion in 2019 and USD 9.2 billion in 2018. On the other hand, US apparel imports saw a sharp drop last year. A large part of this impact on US imports was obviously on imports from China. Both home textiles and apparel imports for US have returned to their usual trends this year, as evidenced from Figure 2. Year to date, while apparel imports have only started to recover fully to pre-pandemic levels, home textile imports remain higher than pre-Covid levels, highlighting a possible behavioral shift towards more hygiene. US imports appear to have shifted to other locations from China, as recent tensions between the two trade partners have only increased. For apparel imports, the large gainers as reported by the US, have been Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Cambodia (Figure 3). However, there is another angle to this apparent trend shift that we will discuss later. US home textiles imports from China have normalised from the levels reached last year but remain elevated than pre-Covid levels (Figure 4). However, home textiles imports from India and Turkey have risen tremendously, while only seeing marginal growth from other partners (Mexico and Pakistan). Are other partners gaining share in US imports? Commodity-wise, all major apparel categories have seen a decline in imports from China. A look at the top 10 categories in apparel, shows that there has been as much as 46 per cent decline in US imports from China. Figure 5 shows the top ten categories of apparel imports from China to the US and almost all have seen a fall in Jan-Aug 2021 compared to Jan-Aug 2019. The heaviest fall has been in men’s woven suits, ensembles & jackets (- 48.1 per cent), women’s woven suits & ensembles (-46.8 per cent), knitted sweaters & pullovers (-43.8 per cent), woven track suits & swimwear (41.0 per cent) and women’s knitted suits & ensembles (-19.6 per cent). The HS Codes for these categories are 6203, 6204, 6110, 6211 and 6104 respectively. Not very surprisingly, imports of garments made of felt or nonwovens (primarily surgical gowns) from China saw a substantial increase in the period of our analysis. The very simplistic interpretation of US imports declining from China and deriving an obvious conclusion that it may be shifting to other locations is not uniformly true. For instance, the category with the largest decline in China imports as mentioned above, men’s woven suits, ensembles & jackets, has simultaneously seen a decline in imports from all other relevant partners. Bangladesh (-12.4 per cent), Vietnam (-13.7 per cent) and Mexico (-22.8 per cent) are amongst the largest importers of this category to US and have seen a drastic fall in demand. Not surprisingly, total US imports in this category have also declined between Jan-Aug 2019 and Jan-Aug 2021. This is depicted in Figure 5 along with four other product groups that we discussed above. The only product group amongst these 5 categories that has seen a rise YTD in overall US imports is women’s knitted suits & ensembles. US imports in this category grew by 8.5 per cent in Jan-Aug 2021 relative to Jan-Aug 2019. Here, all the six competitors to China that we have analysed, have seen a growth in imports. Bangladesh has seen the largest change in this category with a rise of 76.6 per cent, while Vietnam and India have seen moderate rise of 21.1 per cent and 20.0 per cent respectively. Bangladesh has also seen tremendous rise in US import demand for woven track suits & swimwear, with an increase in exports by 83.8 per cent in YTD 2021 against 2019. Cambodia has seen significant gains in US import demand for 5 categories discussed. The largest growth registered in the knitted sweaters and pullovers segment (30.8 per cent), followed by women’s woven suits & ensembles (27.8 per cent) and women’s knitted suits & ensembles (25.9 per cent). Misreporting in textile trade data Analysing these trends assumes that US reported import numbers reflect the true picture. But as Figure 7 would suggest, reported numbers of US apparel imports from China and China exports of apparel exports have seen increasing divergence since last year. Or to be more precise, this divergence (or convergence) appears after the US announcement of increase in tariffs on imports from China. This divergence is also there for home textiles imports in the US, however not as stark as in apparel imports (Figure 8). The primary reason for this divergence, as also recorded earlier by the Federal Reserve , has arisen possibly because of two reasons – 1) higher tariffs by the US on Chinese imports and 2) China’s reduction in VAT rebate rates recently. These two changes have reportedly led to US importers underreporting the value of imports from China and presumably Chinese exporters overreporting their export value, leading to the convergence of the two numbers. Previously, US imports were always higher than Chinese export numbers by a certain (almost constant) factor due to the Customer Information File (CIF) difference. That difference has now disappeared and for the first time, US reported import value is lower than China’s reported exports value. Conclusion The impact of US imports from China is perhaps very unclear given the underreporting of numbers. Going with one of the two numbers – US imports from China or China exports to US – completely changes the possible impact on US-China textile and apparel trade that one would imply from the trade numbers. However, some other countries have evidently seen increasing import demand from the US and will probably continue to do so. Countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Cambodia are expected to see much more demand from the US as we get fully back to pre-Covid growth trajectory. Since US-China trade tensions are far from over, the uncertainty around the impact on trade is also likely to persist.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
• The value of Australia’s exports to China has jumped 24% from a year ago, to reach over $180 billion Australian dollars ($135 billion) as of the latest August data, according to research firm Oxford Economics. • Tensions between the two countries deteriorated sharply early last year after Australia supported a call for a global inquiry into China’s handling of its initial Covid-19 outbreak. • Meat and live animal products are still holding “steady” and going to China despite restrictions, said Oxford Economics. China has been buying more goods from Australia this year even as their trade spat shows no signs of abating. The value of Australia’s exports to China has jumped 24% from a year ago, to reach over $180 billion Australian dollars ($135 billion) as of the latest August data, according to research firm Oxford Economics. Monthly data shows goods to China hit a record monthly high of 19.4 billion Australian dollars in July – a surge of 72% as compared with a year ago, according to Reuters. Relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply last year after Australia supported a call for a global inquiry into China’s handling of its initial Covid-19 outbreak. Since then, those tensions have filtered into Chinese sanctions on Australian goods. That has ranged from levying tariffs to imposing other bans and restrictions — affecting Australian goods including barley, wine, beef, cotton and coal. “Australia’s increasingly fractious trading relationship with China has been a key downside risk to the outlook over the past year,” said Sean Langcake, principal economist at Oxford Economics. “Trade barriers on certain products from Australia have been imposed and have steadily escalated as diplomatic tensions rise.” However, through it all, Australia’s exports to China “have held up remarkably well,” the firm said in an Oct. 22 note. Australia is one of the few developed countries that enjoys a trade surplus with China, its largest trading partner.
Iron ore driving export growth While the headline numbers show a jump in exports, the rise is attributed mostly to iron ore — a commodity for which China is heavily dependent on Australia. “Record-high iron ore prices and strong demand for steel-making inputs in China accounts for much of this strength,” Langcake said. Without iron ore, exports to China across most categories outside of mining actually dipped this year, according to Oxford Economics. Unsurprisingly, the worst-hit goods include those that China targeted. Within food exports, however, some products bucked the trend. Meat and live animal products are still holding “steady” and going to China despite restrictions, said Langcake. The goods among the worst hit include timber, seafood, beverages, edible oils, coal, textiles, footwear, cereals and sugar, according to Oxford Economics. Australian officials have slammed China for the trade sanctions. In a statement to the World Trade Organization last week, Australia said: “China says that these actions reflect legitimate trade concerns; but there is a growing body of information that demonstrates China’s actions are motivated by political considerations.” On Tuesday, the WTO said it has agreed to set up a panel to examine China’s duties on imported Australian wine, according to Reuters. Despite the sanctions, Australia has managed to divert its banned exports to other countries, according to Oxford Economics. “The key question throughout this episode for exporters has been their ability to pivot to alternate export destinations if confronted with barriers when exporting to China,” said Langcake. “Encouragingly, we find evidence that trade dispersion has occurred, rather than a collapse in export performance.” One example is coal, which has been under the spotlight as China’s restrictions on Australian coal remain in place, despite the country’s worst power crisis in years due to a shortage of the commodity. Coal exports from Australia to India – which is facing its own coal shortage — Japan and South Korea have soared, said Oxford Economics.
Source: CNBC
Many Europeans are willing to buy or receive second-hand clothes, especially if there is a broader and better-quality range available. In the United Kingdom, two-thirds of customers already use second-hand clothes. Clothing reuse is far better for the environment than recycling, according to a new report by Friends of the Earth Europe, REdUSE and Global 2000. For every tonne of cotton T-shirts reused, 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent is saved. The report, titled ‘Less is more: Resource efficiency through waste collection, recycling and reuse of aluminum, cotton and lithium in Europe’, said an increase in collection services for quality clothing is significantly more beneficial. Unnecessary landfill and incineration of clothing and other textiles must be minimised, and therefore, legally-binding national regulations for high collection rates and investment in recycling infrastructure need to be implemented, it said. The creation of jobs in the recycling and reuse of textiles in Europe would benefit the environment and provide much-needed employment, it said. In addition, extended producer responsibility (EPR) strategies should be applied, whereby the associated life-cycle environmental costs of clothing products are integrated into their price. This approach holds producers to account for the costs of managing their products at the end-of-life stage in order to reduce toxicity and waste, the report noted. The resource impacts of clothing sold to consumers needs to be reduced, which would involve measuring the carbon, water, material and land needed for the production of garments, from the start through to the end of the supply chain, it said. Alternative fibres with lower social and environmental impact could be sourced. Bans on transgenic cotton cultivation and import could be applied to Bt cotton as well as other such fibres. Bans could also be applied to fuel and feed crops that result in land grabbing, high pesticide usage and environmental damage. The exploitation of workers in global supply chains has to be ended. The legal enforcement of principles based on equality, human rights and security would ensure workers receive a living wage, fair benefits such as maternity and sick pay, and the freedom of association to form trade unions, the report added.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
Fast fashion, which encourages clothing to be quickly discarded and replaced, uses significant amounts of natural, social, and creative resources and creates excessive waste. Research into sustainable fashion aims to change this. Employing more than 300 million people and producing 100 billion items every year, the fashion industry has a colossal impact on the environment. Driving this trend is so-called ‘fast-fashion’, an exploitative yet highly profitable business model that turns high-fashion designs into low-cost, mass-produced styles. In the EU, textile consumption is the fourth highest pressure category in terms of use of primary raw materials and water (after food, housing and transport). It’s also fifth for greenhouse gas emissions. Most of the pressure and impact is linked to clothing and footwear. ‘Because these garments are meant to be disposable, fast fashion encourages overconsumption and generates excessive waste – much of which cannot be recycled,’ said Gisa Schosswohl, a project coordinator with the Creative Region of Linz and Upper Austria, an organisation dedicated to evolving the area’s creative industries, including fashion. To make the fashion ecosystem fit for the circular economy, the European Commission has launched a roadmap for the future of sustainable textiles in the EU. This includes efforts to increase the reuse and recycling. With estimates that less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new textiles, the report stresses the need for measures to address weaknesses regarding sustainable production, sustainable lifestyles, improving textile waste collection and recycling in the Member States.
Cheap clothes come at a high cost… for workers too Although the fashion industry is working to improve its environmental footprint, as is evidenced by the clothes recycling programmes happening at many retailers, sustainability is about more than just the environment. It encompasses social and economic issues as well. ‘Even though many fashion companies are committed to sustainability, their focus on waste, pollution and environmental issues means such social issues as human rights and working conditions go largely ignored,’ said Hakan Karaosman, a researcher at University College Dublin. ‘In pursuit of profitability, and now environmental sustainability, fashion brands have largely ignored worker exploitation,’ added Donna Marshall, also a professor at University College Dublin. Herein lies the dilemma: it’s either profit, the environment, or workers. You can have one, two at best, but it’s difficult to have all three. According to Schosswohl, in an ideal world, fashion would be mindful of its social, environmental, and economic factors. ‘Companies would pay their workers a living wage, give them safe, healthy working conditions, monitor [fashion’s] environmental impact, use sustainable materials, and reduce resource usage throughout the product’s lifecycle,’ she said.
Environmental action requires social justice Although the fashion industry itself may be lacking in real answers to the sustainability conundrum, researchers are taking up the challenge. Take, for example, the Fashion Responsible Supply Chain Hub (FReSCH), which is exploring how environmental sustainability and social justice can coexist within the complexities of fashion supply chains. ‘Tackling the climate crisis can’t happen in a vacuum; it requires a parallel focus on social justice,’ noted Karaosman, who co-leads the hub with Marshall. ‘However, it’s challenging to make large-scale changes within an industry [that is] characterised by mistrust and exclusivity and that places economic benefits ahead of environmental and social interests.’ Initial research conducted by FReSCH indicates that there are both opportunities for and trade-offs between environmental and social sustainability. ‘Our research shows that suppliers and contractors not directly connected to the brand aren’t the reason for environmental and social problems,’ said Marshall. ‘Instead, the problem is systemic and rooted in a culture of elitism, lack of supply chain planning, a failure to integrate suppliers into decision making, and a huge power imbalance between brands and their suppliers.’ Seeing an opportunity to bridge this gap and rebalance the industry, the project wants to include workers – especially women – in the decision-making process. ‘Whereas the companies themselves are far removed from the challenges, the workers live and breathe them on a daily basis,’ noted Karasoman. ‘As such, there’s a real opportunity for fashion companies to leverage their knowledge and experiences to implement practical and effective solutions to the industry’s various social problems.’
Fast fashion is so last year On the production side, the re-FREAM project pairs artists and designers with a community of scientists to rethink fashion’s manufacturing processes. The aim is to strengthen innovation by developing the more creative “human” aspects of technology as part of the EU’s S+T+Arts initiative. ‘Our goal is to develop new concepts for the future of fashion by means of new processes and aesthetics that are both inclusive and sustainable,’ explained Schosswohl, who coordinates the initiative. The team of designers and scientists have already created some runway-worthy ideas. For example, your next purse might be made not from cowhide, but from recycled cork using re-FREAM’s biodegradable fibres and materials. Or, instead of buying a pair of cheap jeans made using unfair, low-cost labour, why not get a pair that was made just down the street? Advances in 3D printing happening inside re-FREAM’s creative labs, might mean that soon you can. 3D printing also opens the door to personalised fashion, where quality clothing is produced locally and made specifically for your body. According to Schosswohl, such a development could help counter the wastefulness of mass production and fast fashion. ‘I envision a future where the consumer will essentially be a co-creator of their own clothing,’ said Schosswohl. ‘By creating a direct relationship between the garment and the wearer, the lifecycle of a given item will increase exponentially.’ The project is also addressing the social aspects of sustainability by making textiles more inclusive. ‘Our clothes can act as powerful tools for connecting with otherwise marginalised populations,’ said Schosswohl. To illustrate this point, Schosswohl highlights a fabric developed by the project that is integrated with sensor technology. ‘This material can provide multi-sensory stimulations for stroke patients and help them interact with and express ideas to others,’ she added.
A community-to-wardrobe revolution The transition to a truly sustainable fashion industry won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight. But Karaosman, Marshall, and Schosswohl all agree that research, technology, education, and dialogue are the models that will eventually put it on the cover. ‘Transitioning to a fair and circular fashion industry will require holistic, long-term, and participatory social dialogue where workers are included, their experiences understood, and their representation authentically ensured and protected,’ added Marshall. ‘Technology allows fashion to be locally produced using locally sourced materials,’ concluded Schosswohl. ‘Like the farm-to-fork movement that has taken the food industry by storm, I think fashion is on the cusp of a “community-to-wardrobe” revolution.’ The research in this article was funded by the EU. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.
Source: Horizon Scienceblog
