Industry News | 1/3/24
SPESA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT | America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity 2023
Newsweek | January 3, 2024
SPESA member A&E is starting the year off right! The company was recently recognized by Newsweek with a five star rating as one of “America’s Greatest Workplaces 2023 for Diversity”. Click the link below to see the full list of companies.
China Tariff Exclusions Extended Five Months
Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. | January 3, 2024
President Biden recently extended hundreds of Section 301 tariff exclusions through May 31, 2024. A docket for public comments on whether to further extend particular tariff exclusions will open January 22, 2024 and close February 21, 2024. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said it will evaluate such potential extensions based on several the availability of covered products from sources outside of China, efforts undertaken to source covered products from the U.S. or third countries, why additional time is needed, and on what timeline, if any, the sourcing of covered products is likely to shift outside of China. In late 2023, a U.S. congressional committee said it aims to reset and recalibrate the relationship with China, essentially laying out 150 policy recommendations that included raising tariffs on China-made goods and limiting the country’s duty-free access to the American market under the de minimis law.
Texprocess 2024 Set To Showcase Innovations in Textile Processing
Fibre2Fashion | January 2, 2024
Texprocess 2024 is coming back to Frankfurt, April 23-26, 2024. Exhibitors from across 40 countries will showcase the latest technologies, from design to processing. The 2022 edition of Texprocess brought together 63,000 visitors and 1,600 exhibitors. From Texprocess co-host and SPESA associate member VDMA: “The spectrum of products and services at Texprocess covers all process stages within the textile value creation chain – from design, cutting room and CAD/CAM through preparation for processing to the actual processing technologies themselves.” Click here to learn more.
Red Sea Tensions Spell Trouble for Global Supply Chains
NPR | January 2, 2024
Recent attacks by Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have destabilized the region and prompted the U.S. to organize a multinational naval force to protect commercial ships. Danish shipping company A.P. Moeller-Maersk said Tuesday it is pausing all transits through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden until further notice, following an incident with one of its vessels Saturday, as Houthi attacks on shipping vessels in the region push major companies to reroute to avoid supply chain issues. The Red Sea is a crucial piece of the global supply chain, accounting for around 15% of the world's shipping.
Mending Old Sewing Machines in Northern Ireland for New Life in Tanzania
BBC | January 1, 2024
No breaking news here, just a good story to ring in your new year. The BBC recently profiled Northern Ireland’s Tools For Solidarity, a nonprofit determined to create opportunities for the people of Tanzania through the refurbishment of sewing machines. The organization works with Mwanza Sewing and Training Centre to provide sewing machines and relevant sewing training and machine maintenance training as a means for work. "The training can transform people because they now have locally made clothes for the likes of children that they would have had to travel very far to get before and they are expensive.”
Scientists Find Potential Solution to Spandex Recycling Problem
Sourcing Journal | December 29, 2024
Scientists at the Vienna University of Technology have developed a feasible and up-scalable process for separating elastane, also known as spandex, from textile waste, the first of its kind ever formulated. Working with six different organic solvents, the chemists settled on non-hazardous dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as the best solution.
Gildan Activewear Shareholder Revolt Looms on Board Shakeup Demands
Just Style | January 3, 2024
Browning West, LP, a long-term shareholder of Canadian activewear company, Gildan Activewear Inc. has issued a letter to shareholders outlining its intent to remedy the board’s “mishandled” CEO succession and establish the “highest quality governance in the company’s history.” Browning West, who holds 5.0% of Gildan Activewear’s outstanding shares, intends to requisition a special meeting to empower shareholders to reconstitute Gildan’s board of directors by replacing five incumbent directors with a slate of “highly qualified” candidates. The move follows concerns raised over the board’s recent “destructive actions”, particularly the abrupt termination of Gildan’s long-time CEO and co-founder, Glenn Chamandy, without cause, despite his “significant track record of value creation” over 25 years.
Additional coverage can be found here.
Thrifting, Mending, and How To Be Sustainably Fashionable
NPR | December 26, 2023
NPR’s 1A show tackles the conversation on sustainability and fashion. According to the show, in the U.S., clothes are only worn for around a quarter of the global average. Some people throw away clothes after only seven to ten wears. But recently, there’s been a growing movement against over-consumption. More people are forming a slower relationship with fashion, one where secondhand and even mending get in the rotation. Click the link below to listen to the full interview.
Euratex Endorses EU Revised Textile Labeling Legislation
Sourcing Journal | December 22, 2023
In the run up to the elections for the European Parliament in June, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex) has issued a statement saying it supports the EU Commission’s goal of revising the Textiles Labeling Regulation, and proposed a number of revisions of its own. They are all pro-consumer and pro-sustainability, and designed to put forward a coherent position across a vast industry. Euratex’s new position rests on four main pillars: fiber composition, care instructions, fur and leather authenticity and digitization.
SPESA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT | Here’s Why Lectra Expanded Its Services to Mexico to Support Furniture Manufacturers
Furniture Today | December 22, 2023
Earlier this year, SPESA member Lectra expanded its Furniture-on-Demand program to Mexico. Leonard Marano, president of Americas at Lectra and SPESA Board member said the expansion allowed furniture suppliers to take advantage of Lectra’s turnkey solution for more efficient workflow. “We have hundreds of companies in Mexico utilizing Lectra solutions,” Marano said. “Most are doing traditional mass production; however, we do see it slowly moving toward more customization and on-demand production thus the expansion of the Furniture on Demand to Mexico.”
U.S. Lawmakers Support Bangladesh Garment Workers’ Demand for Fair Wages
Fashion Dive | December 22, 2023
Members of Congress recently issued a letter calling on the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) to support the demands of Bangladesh’s garment workers for minimum wage increase. The group, led by Democrats Rep. Ilhan Omar, Jim McGovern and Jan Schakowsky, asks U.S. brands to use their influence to “stand together with workers by immediately demanding better wages and rights for Bangladeshi working families,” per a release from Omar’s office. The lawmakers further call on AAFA members to commit to long-term sourcing relationships with suppliers; increase their purchasing prices to absorb additional labor costs; show transparency and accountability in their business operations and supply chain member companies; and use their leverage with factory owners to ensure workers are paid in spite of factory closures.
Textile Waste in the Desert: The Reality of ‘Zero Waste’ Promises
Vogue Business | December 21, 2023
With no one responsible for overseeing or ensuring integrity in the management of garment and textile waste globally, there’s also no clear strategy or solution — nor funding to implement any would-be solution — for what to do with it. “Between 2000 and 2022, global fiber production has grown from 58 million to 116 million tons, so we’re consuming a lot more clothing and disposing of it much quicker in greater volumes, and we don’t have the scaled infrastructure to deal with it,” says Dr Patsy Perry, a reader in fashion marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University. “When it’s exported, it’s out of sight out of mind…it’s easy to overproduce because brands aren’t really seeing the cost of producing too much. The cost is on the environment and on other stakeholders,” says Perry.
A Sluggish Year for Manufacturers Led to Major Factory Closures in 2023
Manufacturing Dive | December 21, 2023
Manufacturing orders in the U.S. were sluggish in 2023 according to national purchasing managers’ indices, leading to uncertainty in the industry as companies cut their production volumes and ran down their existing inventories. The stagnant state of the industry also led some manufacturers to make the difficult decision to close their facilities in an effort to cut costs. “For every company looking to hire there’s a company looking to reduce headcount,” Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, said following the release of the ISM’s November Purchasing Managers’ Index.
Uzbekistan To Host Joint Conference of ITMF & IAF in 2024
Fibre2Fashion | December 18, 2023
On September 8-10, 2024, Samarkand, Uzbekistan will host the joint conference of two major international textile federations of the world— the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) Annual Conference and the International Apparel Federation (IAF) World Fashion Convention 2024. SPESA co-hosted the 38th World Fashion Convention with IAF in Philadelphia. Check out a recap of event coverage here.