texfash

Socially disadvantaged people are disproportionately affected by temperature extremes. A recent study explored this point in Cambodia: one of the world's hottest and most humid countries. It evidenced the extent of the heat exposure faced by workers in Cambodia and the way occupational, environmental and geographical dynamics combine to shape it. The study’s lead author, Dr Laurie Parsons of Royal Holloway, University of London, contextualises this for the country’s garment workers.

ITF Intertex Portugal, the country’s leading textiles-apparel event, gets under way about two weeks from now. The country’s textiles industry is much like its football ecosystem—not very big in size, but a force to reckon with, and just as vibrant. Managing Director Serhan Pul tells us what makes Portugal’s textiles-apparel industry tick and how it is adapting to the changing times.

Last month, Environmental Impact Measuring (EIM), a well-known platform for measuring the environmental impact of garment finishing, presented the first global report on the environmental impact of denim finishing. Begoña García, creator of the EIM platform and co-author of the report, talks about the complexities of environmental metrics.

The Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles (SMART) Association works towards strengthening economic opportunities by promoting the interdependence of the for-profit textile recycling industry segments and provides a common forum for networking, education and advocacy. SMART President Brian London dwells at length on the second-hand clothing waste and global trade.

India’s withdrawal of the trans-shipment facility marks more than a bureaucratic hiccup—it represents a tectonic shift in South Asian trade geopolitics. At the heart of it lies the Bangladeshi apparel industry, now navigating increased costs, longer transit times, and geopolitical uncertainty. The episode underscores how strategic rivalry between India and China is beginning to shape—even weaponise—trade logistics and bilateral relationships.

The path to circularity in fashion is not paved with singular solutions or isolated innovations. It is shaped by the willingness of stakeholders to come together, question assumptions, and collaborate in new ways. The ESCF project has shown that manufacturers, when given space and voice, are not just implementers—they are co-creators of the future. 

A major player in the Enabling Systemic Circularity in Fashion project of the Forum for the Future was leading apparel manufacturer, Crystal International Group. A spokesperson of the group talks about how brands and retailers can collaborate with their manufacturing partners in making the concept of circular fashion work in reality.

Taiwanese player Yee Chain International Ltd was a key participant in a project that sought to understand the systemic challenges that are stymieing the fashion industry’s efforts to go the whole hog. Chief Sustainability Officer, Martin Su, and Global Sustainability and Circularity Scaling Manager, Anett Soti, talk about ground truths in this engaging conversation.

The Big Bro vice-like squeeze of the sweeping tariff hikes will soon be felt far beyond edgy boardrooms and uneasy stock exchanges, and there are sporadic reports of this already starting to take effect. For hundreds of thousands of garment workers—many in the factories across South and Southeast Asia, and Africa to a lesser extent—the arbitrary spike in trade tariffs will be a matter of life and death.

The future of fashion isn’t synthetic. It’s natural. It’s regenerative. And The Sheep Inc brand embodies and symbolises ideas from a carbon-negative supply chain, premium merino wool garments and regenerative farms to that word which is at the core of many debates in the fashion world: transparency.