Report

The global garment industry has spent a decade reconfiguring its production geography in response to trade tensions, compliance pressures, and the demands of fast-moving online retail. New research now provides a detailed account of what has changed and what has not. Apparel assembly has moved, measurably and deliberately. The industrial inputs that make that assembly possible—fabrics, fibres, accessories—have stayed in China.

Asia's largest mechanical textile recycling cluster has spent the better part of a decade acquiring the infrastructure of sustainability—treatment plants, cleaner fuels, international certifications. A detailed diagnostic study now offers the most granular environmental assessment of Panipat to date, and its findings complicate the progress narrative: pollution persists, residue management remains opaque, and technology adoption is deeply uneven across the cluster's enterprises.

Virtual fitting rooms promise easier clothing choices for people with physical disabilities, yet adaptation depends on more than technical access. Evidence from a large study shows that confidence, convenience, and enjoyment shape willingness to use these systems, reframing inclusive digital fashion as a question of experience, not novelty.

India’s cotton story is fraying. Once the world’s largest producer, it now harvests less from more. Fields are shrinking, farmers are quitting, and seeds have stood still. The crop that once wove India’s textile strength now risks unravelling under policy paralysis, poor yields, and disjointed priorities from farm to factory.

Commercial printing has operated the same way for decades, but a partnership between three Colorado companies, led by Living Ink Technologies, announced claims to have achieved something unprecedented: successfully replacing petroleum-based carbon black with algae waste in full four-colour commercial printing. The breakthrough represents the first time bio-based pigment has proven viable for high-volume CMYK applications.

Wool, long regarded as a symbol of New Zealand’s pastoral heritage and a sustainable alternative in an increasingly eco-conscious world, is set to take centre stage again, as it gets knitted into a government directive mandating the use of Kiwi-grown and manufactured wool carpets in public sector buildings.

This is not the first time that India has found itself with a heaven-sent opportunity. This time, however, all indicators are that the ground situation is different. Will India be able to upstage China in the global textiles and apparel trade? A ground report.

Observers are agog over how the launch of a pilot qcom programme by leading e-commerce player, Myntra, will play out. Speculation is rife about what this will mean for fashion markets in India. The talk is mostly about brands and big players. What do these mean for small manufacturers? Do they get new platforms to sell? Or, does this mean they will get financially squeezed as they are often on e-comm marketplaces? An analysis.

Does Denmark’s tax on livestock carbon emissions, to run effective from 2030, make scientific sense? Will it help the environmental, human health or farming livelihoods? Will the move impact the leather industry outside of Denmark? texfash probes.

Border posts remain clogged, orders and payments are stuck, and amidst all there’s also a lot of talk that the political upheaval in neighbouring Bangladesh could see shifting of orders to India. But, till government tweaks some policies, Indian apparel manufacturers making hay from the Bangla crisis appears wishful thinking.