Interview

The big picture is that China, once a dominant player, is under pressure and buyers are desperately looking to diversify risks. India has suddenly become important as it is the only other place with a large vertically integrated textile chain, but does not have the huge capacities. Sarbajit Ghose, Managing Director of Laguna Clothing, does some hard talk as he takes a 360-degree view of how sourcing works.

Janpeter Horn took charge in April as Chairperson of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association, Germany — the most important voice of the mechanical/plant engineering industry with 130 member companies. Horn, who is Managing Director of August Herzog Maschinenfabrik, sees his role as that of a moderator who reconciles different interests and represents the industry's positions in international bodies.

Last week, Control Union, one of the world’s largest certifiers of organic cotton, announced that it would no more certify cotton, among others. The entire certification process apparently was too much of a balancing act, Control Union sources tell texfash.com.

Leather can be classified as a biomaterial, and the industry increasingly is realising that it needs to invest in fact-based communication to consumers and brands that it is one material where there is no waste, where everything can be re-used, re-cycled and ultimately be biodegradable. Debbie Burton, Marketing Head at Pittards, shares how this industry is part of the solution to create a circular society.
 

Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) is one of the leading organisations working on sustainability in fashion. María Luisa Martínez Díez, Public Affairs Director at GFA, speaks to texfash.com about how GFA sees the just-announced EU Textiles Strategy from a global standpoint.

In the coldest of climes the best insulation comes from down—the underside plumage of geese and ducks. A tightknit family based out of Vernon in the United States that has been in this business for over three decades, conscious of sourcing with responsibility and processing sustainably too, Allied Feather + Down has promised to debut its carbon neutral down insulation by Fall 2023. With its first sustainability report on the anvil, Creative Director Matthew Betcher shares with texfash.com the steps it has been taking to reduce its carbon footprint.

Impetus Portugal - Texteis SA is one of the leading manufacturers, suppliers and producers of a wide range of apparel in Portugal. Ricardo Figueiredo, Administrator at Impetus Group, talks about the ways in which the Group has been trying to emerge out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The only true way to guarantee traceability and transparency is by connecting the physical traced fibre with the digital (blockchain). And, it is being done!

His unique aesthetic has made waves beyond home shores. Globally-acclaimed fashion critics have called him a “national treasure”—a designer who has been instrumental in “successfully highlighting the best and most peculiar features of his homeland.” I am talking about none other than the Malhausi boy Rahul Mishra, the first Indian fashion designer to be invited to showcase at the Paris Haute Couture Week in January 2020. His eponymous label works on the philosophy of the three Es—environment...

A choker that opens up as a mask, a shield-like social distancing (SD) jacket with pockets that sanitise, a face visor that can collapse and fit into your glares’ case, a UV hanger that will make your clothes safe when you return indoors and lots more in the pipeline. NIFT graduate and co-founder-Craft Village as also a former faculty member at NID, Somesh Singh is on a roll as he spends much of his waking hours researching, designing and prototyping fashionable yet functional gears for a still...