The Fair Wear Foundation has published a 56-page report ‘Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) India Country Study 2016’, which states that there is no child labour in the garment industry of the country now as compared to what was in 2000.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has recently launched ‘Fashionomics’, the economy of fashion initiative during the Bank’s 2015 Annual Meeting to boost micro, small and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) in the fashion and textile industry in Africa.

India and China are going to be the most coveted markets by 2030 and it is clear that the US will be replaced by China as the world’s biggest apparel market and India will not be far behind, according to Euromonitor International.

Garment exports from Vietnam has been falling in the recent past. For example, Thanh Cong Garment, one of a few Vietnamese garment companies that owns a yarn – fabric – garment production line that has a strong demand from South Korea and the US, has seen a contracts decrease considerably from foreign partners in the first six months of the year.

The UK has launched a programme to support its textile sector. The programme is aimed at businesses within the textiles sector and covers manufacturers from carpets to clothing, as well as industry suppliers, such as textile machinery manufacturers and designers.

Smart textiles are creating a fourth industrial revolution for the textiles and fashion industry worth over $130 billion by 2025, according to the recent report from technology consultancy Cientifica.

Textile Commissioner, Dr Kavita Gupta, set the tone for the 6th Annual General Meeting and the Knowledge Sharing Session of the Indian Technical Textile Association, held at the Mumbai Cricket Association, Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai recently.

Despite rising labour costs, RMB appreciation and lower demand from export markets, China’s textile and apparel industry are still growing at a healthy pace and looks to dominate the global apparel sector, both as a producer and a consumer for years to come.

China is now the second largest jeans market in the world, valued at $12 billion in 2015, while consumers’ affinity for denim jumped from 39 per cent to 63 per cent from 2003 to 2016, according to the Cotton Council International (CCI) and Cotton Incorporated’s 2016 Global Lifestyle Monitor Survey.