Ultra-fast fashion risks eroding sustainability gains

Significance Brands in this segment of the textile and apparel industry such as the Chinese Shein and the US Fashion Nova saw their profits grow sharply as consumers cut spending and shopped online. This has raised concerns about the environmental sustainability of their business models. Impacts Regulation, such as sanctions against the use of unsustainable raw materials such as polyester, would help reduce the carbon footprint. Regulators have yet to curb misleading or false advertising for products incorrectly sold as ‘sustainable’. Civil society pressure will rise for policies to regulate the disposal of clothing and textile waste shipments.

DAMPAK SAFEGUARD ATAS IMPOR BENANG TERHADAP PEREKONOMIAN: PENDEKATAN MODEL CGE

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of safeguard on yarn industry’s output, textile and apparel industry as the upper stream’s output, and economics welfare. Government of Indonesia implement safeguard on yarn from 2019 to 2022, to protect domestic industries from an increased quantities as to cause or threaten serious injury to domestic producers of like or directly competitive products. This study uses computable general equilibrium (CGE) model incorporating Indonesia Input - Output Table year 2016. The study exercised two scenario/simulations:(1) assessing safeguard impact; and (2) assessing combination of safeguard and tax incentive impact. The results showed that safeguard on yarn import decrease import value of yarn, but did not increase yarn’s and its upper stream industry’s output. Safeguard tend to decrease the utility or welfare of the economics. In the other hand, policy combination of safeguard and tax incentive decrease yarn import, but did not impact on upper stream industry’s import. The policy combination also increases yarn industry’s output, and increase the utility or welfare of the economics. Keywords: compensating variation, fiscal incentive, textile and apparel industry, utility, welfare ABSTRAK: Penelitian ini bertujuan menganalisis dampak safeguard terhadap produktivitas atau output industri benang dan industri tekstil dan produk tekstil sebagai industri hilir, serta dampak safeguard terhadap kesejahteraan masyarakat dalam perekonomian. Pemerintah Indonesia menerapkan safeguard atas benang pada tahun 2019 s.d. 2022 sebagai bentuk perlindungan terhadap industri tekstil dalam negeri dari peningkatan impor benang yang menyebabkan, atau dicurigai akan mengakibatkan kerugian serius terhadap industri yang bersangkutan. Penelitian menggunakan computable general equilibrium (CGE) model dengan data Tabel I-O Indonesia tahun 2016. Pengujian dilakukan dalam dua simulasi yaitu: (1) shock berupa penerapan safeguard; (2) kombinasi dari shock berupa penerapan safeguard dan fasilitas fiskal berupa pengurangan penghasilan industri untuk perhitungan pajak penghasilan wajib pajak Badan. Hasil pengujian menunjukkan bahwa safeguard menurunkan impor benang, tetapi tidak meningkatkan output domestik dan cenderung menurunkan utilitas/kesejahteraan masyarakat. Safeguard yang dikombinasikan dengan fasilitas pajak penghasilan mampu menurunkan impor, meningkatkan output (walaupun belum sampai tahap ekspor), dan meningkatkan utilitas/kesejahteraan masyarakat. Kata kunci: compensating variation, industri tekstil dan produk tekstil, fiscal incentive, utilitas, kesejahteraan

From Fibre to Fashion: Understanding the Value of Sustainability in Global Cotton Textile and Apparel Value Chains

Current sustainability frameworks and tools to assess and track social and environmental impacts of textile and apparel (such as life cycle analysis) along the chain, although important, provide a narrow focus on metrics (such as a reduction in inputs) or on economic value. This paper proposes a tailored method which combines value chain thinking with qualitative value mapping techniques to identify what sustainable value means and to whom, who benefits both in and beyond the chain (such as wider society, the environment, local communities), as well as opportunities to create sustainable value in the future. Results from interviews with stakeholders of a single connected cotton value chain demonstrate that this approach can identify sustainable value propositions specific to different actors in the chain, temperature-test whether stakeholders are willing to pay a premium price for sustainability efforts, and identify novel sustainable value opportunities that disrupt the chain. In addition to extending knowledge around sustainability in the textile and apparel industry, our contribution also lies in the development of a tailored tool which can be adapted and used for other value chains.

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN TEXTILES AND APPAREL INDUSTRY

Product development is key to survival of any industry with change of time. This article discusses about the process of new product development in textile and apparel industry. Major points considered during this process are demand of customers, availability of new raw materials, sustainability, economic validity and responsibiiity towards nature. Engineering of products is a complicated issue here due to natural variability of textile materials, limitations of fibre available and use of old conventional machineries in many cases.

Arrangement of soft fingers for automatic grasping of fabric pieces of garment

It is a global challenge in the textile and apparel industry to grasp and separate fabric pieces automatically using mechanical devices. This paper summarized studies on grasping a textile cutting piece by different principles and mechanical systems, and focused on bionic soft fingers made of silica gel. In the study, we first tested single-point grasping to explore the factors that influence the grasping effects of soft fingers, and found that (a) the grasping margin is a crucial factor that influences the effect of grasping, (b) the sides and the directions of a piece play important roles in grasping, and a reverse side and a vertical direction often bring better results of grasping, and (c) although the opening distance of a soft finger is significant to the result of grasping, successful grasping is a joint result of the grasping margin and the opening distance. We then experimented with the arrangement of soft fingers, and discovered that (a) the shape and the area of a cut piece are the determinants for the number of soft fingers that have to be used, (b) a soft finger is needed at the intersections of a piece to guarantee unfolded grasping and transferring, and (c) the number of soft fingers to be used for a specific grasping task can be estimated after major factors are determined. The conclusion we proposed is easy to understand and is convenient for training or application in an industrial production. In the future, it is expected to be applied to the intelligent production of clothing.

Impacts and Possible Responses Related to COVID-19 in the Textile and Apparel Industry of Bangladesh

This research work was intended to analyze the unleashed issues related to apparel trade during COVID-19 pandemic & made an attempt to find the best possible responses to uphold marketing campaigns during & after the pandemic situation. Apparel industries in Asia, the largest global hub of both the textile & apparel import-export trade have been severally damaged by the COVID-19. Over the last one year, the global community had already realized the fact that how pandemic situation disrupted the supply chain management of textile, apparel & fashion manufacturing industries throughout the world. Bangladesh, one of the top ranked garments exporter countries have been facing the burning bridges, due to the scarcity of raw materials & gradual cancelation export orders. The contribution of the apparel industry is more significant for the socio-economic growth of a 3rd world countries like Bangladesh, just because apparel contributes almost 84% of its total export income with the involvement of 4.5 million people approximately. The following research paper conveys a three-fold story. In the very beginning portion, there are some reviews & analysis of the overall scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic with presence of several business reports, academic journals, market research, manufactures' opinions & stakeholders' strategies. The second phase of the research work forecasts the possible responses need to be projected during & after the pandemic situation. Finally, this study predicts an ideal foot print to cope up with similar sort of situations in future.

Sustainability topic trends in the textile and apparel industry: a text mining-based magazine article analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to (1) identify the sustainable practices developed by the textile and apparel industry and (2) investigate the gaps and opportunities in the sustainability implementation process by quantitively analyzing the sustainability topics and the relevant topic trends.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed text mining techniques. A total of 1,168 relevant magazine articles published from 2013 to 2020 were collected and then categorized according to their tones. In total, 36 topics were identified by reviewing the sustainability issues in the industry. The frequency of each topic mentioned in the articles and the correlation coefficients between topics' frequencies and published time were calculated. The results were used to examine if the three sustainability dimensions (environment, society, economy) were equally addressed and identify opportunities in the sustainability implementation process.FindingsThere were much fewer social and economic topics than environmental topics discussed in the articles. Additionally, there were not enough practices developed to reduce microfiber pollution, improve consumers' knowledge of sustainability, offset the carbon footprint, build a transparent, sustainable supply chain and avoid animal cruelty.Originality/valueThere is a lack of research focusing on the whole supply chain and sustainability when investigating sustainable practices and topic trends. This study fills a part of the gap. The results can be used by industrialists to identify sustainable practice opportunities and better manage their sustainable supply chains. Researchers can utilize the results to compare the topics in the industry with the topics studied in academia.

Recent Trends in Sustainable Textiles and Apparel Production

Human life is sustainable with food, cloth, and shelter as a basic need. The global textile industry is bound to be huge, as it fulfills the second basic requirement of human. In recent years ecological issues have become more important in the textile and apparel industry, an industry known as a polluting industry despite having a natural and environmentally friendly base. Every textile item releases toxic substances that are harmful to the environment. The traditional textile industry consumes large amounts of natural resources and pollutes the environment by involving a huge amount of toxic chemical substances during the production and wet treatment processes. Sustainability has become an essential attribute of today’s textile industry. The process of transforming the textile industry into a more sustainable one is very sensitive, needs a lot of knowledge, skills, and commitment. This paper reviews the importance, recent trends, and role of governing bodies in sustainable textile production.