22 December 2021, Mumbai:

The Saurer Group has appointed Uwe Rondé as its new CEO. With chairman Pan Xueping stepping down as CEO, Dr Rondé will take over the reins on 1 January 2022.

The incoming CEO brings with him over 30 years’ experience in the machine tool business and the manufacturing space. Most recently, Dr Rondé was managing director of EMAG in Germany, having previously headed up the machine tool and production systems supplier’s Chinese subsidiary. He was also CEO of Franz Kessler, one of the biggest motor spindle manufacturers in the world and of Intercontec Pfeiffer, a manufacturer of connectors.

Dr Rondé has held the role of vice chairman on the Saurer board of directors since October 2021. Mr Pan comments: “We believe that Dr Rondé, with his strong technical background and extensive management experience, is the right person for the role of CEO. He will continue to drive the further development of technological innovation, product competitiveness and management, as well as the success of Saurer's future strategy.”

Dr Rondé says: “We are cautiously optimistic as the textile sector begins to show signs of recovery. I am confident that Saurer will be able to benefit tremendously from new opportunities in the coming years.”

SAURER (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)

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 20 December 2021, Mumbai:

THE MILLS FABRICA DEBUTS NEW VISUAL IDENTITY TO MARK GLOBAL EXPANSION The pioneering platform reveals all-new branding and visual identity as it unites its cross-continental spaces in London and Hong Kong.

The Mills Fabrica unveils a new visual identity, including an all-new logo, following its expansion to London, United Kingdom, earlier this year. Characterising The Mills Fabrica’s global vision, the new logo captures the successful transformation of a textile legacy into today’s go-to platform in accelerating techstyle and agrifood tech innovation, a visionary in driving sustainable solutions for a circular future.

As part of a cohesive, global rebrand, the new logo is visually defined by the letter ‘F’ to signify The Mills Fabrica’s unparalleled position in advancing techstyle innovations through exposure, connections, and advisory. Created by Nan Fung Group’s in-house studio, the new logo’s interweaving lines harmoniously loop together—a nod to the unique ecosystem of community, collaborations, and entrepreneurship made possible through The Mills Fabrica’s one-of-a-kind platform.

Fabrica X, The Mills Fabrica’s new retail concept store, was launched alongside The Mills Fabrica’s London expansion to showcase groundbreaking apparel-tech innovations of the future. The concept store heralds biodiverse material use, minimal waste, and ethical production while educating and empowering customers to make eco-conscious, responsible purchases.

The store launch marks an exciting shift in London’s retail landscape and shall join hands with existing collaborative efforts to spearhead the circular economy movement across continents.

With an extensive offering of innovative techstyle products and carefully-curated spaces for experimental pop-ups and unique brand experiences, the Fabrica X stores in London and Hong Kong encapsulate the platform’s mission to offer solutions for sustainable living and accelerate the circular economy.

Echoing this is The Mills Fabrica’s state-of-the-art incubation programme and unrivalled opportunities for emerging businesses.

Earlier this Autumn, The Mills Fabrica revealed the winners of its third Techstyle For Social Good competition (“TFSG2021”), dedicated to championing the next generation of sustainable entrepreneurs by providing international exposure, tailored mentoring, and holistic support to them.

With over 200 entries from around the world, winners were selected from various categories, including apparel & textile innovation and agrifood tech, to propel solutions of the future.

Prior to announcing the results for TFSG2021, The Mills Fabrica also announced this year’s awardee for The Mills Fabrica Innovation Award, an award celebrating future innovators and emerging startups, as part of the platform’s continued partnership with the prestigious college Central Saint Martins, London.

The winner, Yongfan Lu, was selected on her merit in material innovation and design and was awarded a £1000 cash prize and a three-month residency at The Mills Fabrica, Hong Kong, to continue developing the biomaterial she has designed.

Vanessa Cheung, Founder of The Mills Fabrica, said: “We are proud to unveil our new identity as we launch The Mills Fabrica’s new space in London and bring our revolutionary store to a new market.

Uniting both stores under the Fabrica X brand marks our shift to a cross-continental platform that champions circularity and sustainability by providing tangible solutions to the eco-conscious and revolutionise what we use, eat, and wear on a day-to-day basis.

SOURCE: The Mills Fabrica (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)

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21 December 2021, Mumbai:

The Italian luxury house Ermenegildo Zegna NV is open to acquiring other textile manufacturers or a fashion brand that’s strong with younger shoppers, its chief executive officer said.

Zegna manufactures its own fabrics, knitwear and yarns, and also sells those products to other brands, such as Chanel and Brunello Cucinelli. “We have this luxury textile platform,” Ermenegildo Zegna said in an interview. “We might add something to that.”

An acquisition would broaden the company’s ability to manufacture fabrics or fibers, for instance, and would also be less expensive than purchasing a new brand, he added. Competitors have been looking at expanding their manufacturing, too, driven by supply-chain problems during the pandemic, he said.

“There will be more vertical integration -- whether it’s leather, apparel or accessories,” Zegna said. “We are at the forefront of that.”

The company would also consider acquiring a fashion company. “I would prefer a brand that’s going after the young customer and a brand that’s more digital -- that’s more online than offline,” Zegna said. “In accessories, I think we can do a better job.”

Potential acquisitions aren’t likely to be immediate. In 2022, Zegna said, his focus will be on growing organically, in part because of the uncertain trajectory of the pandemic.

Zegna listed its shares on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange after merging earlier this year with a blank-check company led by Sergio Ermotti, the former CEO of UBS Group AG. The Zegna family holds nearly 66% of the combined entity, which has a market capitalization of $2.7 billion after the shares rose 5.9% on Monday.

The Italian fashion house is a global leader in menswear. Zegna said during a presentation to investors in July that it expects to report 1.34 billion euros ($1.51 billion) in sales in 2022, which would be an 11% increase versus what the company expects to report this year. The company isn’t as profitable as peers, however.

“Retail space productivity at less than 3 million euros per store seems a key structural reason for the gap,” said Luca Solca, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. “Fabric manufacturing for third parties is likely another factor depressing profitability.”

The recent trend toward more casual dressing, which has been accelerated by the pandemic, has put the luxury suit maker on its back foot. Zegna is pivoting and says it aims to decrease its share of formalwear and increase its leisurewear sales to more than half of revenue by 2023. Its acquisition of U.S. fashion house Thom Browne in 2018 is also part of that development.

“We are shifting the paradigm, particularly in America, from the power-suit perception of the brand to a more casual, more relaxed” offering, Zegna said. The company plans to invest more in marketing in the U.S. and to team up with other brands on collaborations that draw in new consumers, he added.

Zegna said in the investor presentation that it expects to generate more than half of the revenue from its apparel and accessories business in China this year, an increase from around 40% in 2019, before the pandemic struck.

Zegna’s sales in the U.S. and the rest of the Americas, by contrast, are expected to generate around 15% of revenue this year. The CEO says the company is working to increase that figure.

Zegna, like other high-end brands, was able to pull back on discounting this year in the U.S. due to robust demand from shoppers, among other factors.

“It’s the first season I remember in 40 years that we don’t have any sales,” Zegna said. “That’s a very, very strong sign.”

BLOOMBERG (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)

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21 December 2021, Mumbai:

The allegations of animal cruelty were based on a PETA Asia investigation.

After lobbying and swaying many fashion brands to stop using fur, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has increased its efforts to get companies to stop using exotic skins.

Following a recent PETA Asia investigation, the organization has appealed to top executives at Kering and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

In letters dated Monday to Kering’s chair and chief executive officer François-Henri Pinault and LVMH’s chair and CEO Bernard Arnault, PETA’s president Ingrid Newkirk urged them to stop using exotic animal skins.

The letter to Pinault opened with thanks for declaring Kering fur-free. It went on to detail the “violent, inarguably cruel manner” in which lizards are killed for Gucci accessories, based on a PETA Asia investigation.

“No bag, belt or wallet is worth such pain and suffering, especially since your designers have access to the most advanced and beautiful leathers,” Newkirk wrote.

wwd.com (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)

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20 December 2021, Mumbai:

According to the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) data, Bangladesh’s apparel export achieved a growth rate of 27% in the first 10 months of 2021. Outshining its competitors China and Vietnam. Bangladesh also remained in the third top readymade garment (RMG) exporting to the US by fetching $5.7 billion from January to October period of 2021.

While China exported $16 billion with a 25% growth, followed by Vietnam 14% and Indonesia 10%. Other top-six garment exporters to the USA market are India, Mexico, Honduras, Cambodia, Pakistan and Korea.

Apparel experts say highlighted that local RMG makers have been receiving a surplus flow of work orders due to a radical fall in China’s factory productions driven by an energy crisis, and supply chain disruptions in Vietnam and Indonesia due to the pandemic.

Bangladesh, which now ranks third in RMG exports to the US, fetched $5.7 billion from the destination in the first 10 months, up by around 27% from the receipts over the same period in 2020, according to the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA).

Industry insiders say Bangladesh apparel makers have been receiving an additional flow of work orders because of a drastic fall in China’s factory outputs fueled by energy shortages, and pandemic-led supply chain disruptions in Vietnam and Indonesia.

With the resurgence of commercial happenings in the US, consumers have increased spending on apparel.

“Our apparel exports to the US market have kept growing with many US buyers now shifting to us,” Mohammad Hatem, executive president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) told media.

Buyers’ sourcing inquiry from the western country has further paced up. So, exports will go up all the more in the coming months, he said.

According to the OTEXA data, in the January to October period of 2021 period, the USA imported 24.45 billion square meters equivalent apparel. Which is worth nearly $67 billion of clothing items, increasing by 24% compared to the previous year.

Mohammad Hatem further said to the media that Bangladesh’s export growth in the US market is very good even after paying 16% duty.

At least if the country’s cotton-made garments can be exported to that US market duty-free, Bangladesh will see its exports increase significantly.

TEXTILE TODAY (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)

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21 December 2021, Mumbai:

In the 1980s, local garment manufacturers used to export garment items in old and used cartons as there was no factory in Bangladesh at that time capable of producing the accessory.

The used cartons had to be imported and they were made reusable by cutting them manually in order to make them fit to carry export-oriented items. Under such circumstances, there was uncertainty whether the shipment of finished goods could be made on time even after the products were ready.

Even 15 years ago, local manufacturers had to buy buttons, a vital accessory for the apparel industry, mainly from China and Hong Kong to produce final goods for their international clients.

Many of the garment manufacturers also failed to send the goods to the retailers and brands in Europe and the US maintaining the lead time because of the delay in carrying out the task amid the shortage of buttons and other accessories. In the event of a missed deadline, they were compelled to offer big discounts or even faced cancellation of orders.

The situation started improving after 1990 when local accessories makers started setting up factories to produce accessories. Entrepreneurs pumped in Tk 40,000 crore in the last 15 years, building a garment accessories and packaging industry that serves the country's gigantic apparel industry, making Bangladesh the second-largest garment exporter in the world.

Their efforts also helped create jobs for the locals and save billions of dollars in foreign currencies.

Lead time has improved a lot as garment exporters can procure accessories and cartons directly from local markets, cutting the waiting time that would have otherwise been needed in case of imports.

The Daily Star (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)

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20 December 2021, Mumbai:

Nike Inc (NKE.N) beat quarterly revenue and profit estimates on Monday, lifted by strong demand for its sports shoes and apparel in North America, and said it was more confident of easing supply chain issues in its next fiscal year.

The company's shares rose 3.7% in extended trading. Nike's second-quarter sales in North America, its largest market, jumped 12%, as a reopening U.S. economy and the roll out of vaccines gave people confidence to rush back to stores and splurge on sneakers for running and hiking.

"Nike is doing well to get as much inventory as possible. Long term, I don't see the momentum going away from the company because the products are so highly coveted by consumers," said Jessica Ramirez, retail analyst at Jane Hali & Associates.

The sportswear maker said its direct-to-consumer business had record Black Friday sales in North America despite supply constraints heading into the holiday season due to months-long factory closures in Vietnam, where about half of all Nike footwear is manufactured.

REUTERS (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)

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DAILY NEWS:

• Flipkart, an Indian e-commerce company, collaborates with PUMA on the ‘1DER' line, which features batsman KL Rahul

• Consumers will determine growth of sustainable fashion e-comm in India

• Myntra to offer 1 mn styles from about 7,000 brands at the 'Big Fashion Festival'

• Maharashtra government honors VIP as 'Best Innerwear Brand' for 2021-22

• Nike strengthens retail presences with new store at DLF Mall of India,Noida

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