LATEST UPDATE

Oldest Known Blue-Dyed Fabric in Bronze Age Anatolia Identified at Ancient Settlement, Study Finds

A newly published archaeological study has identified a blue-dyed textile fragment from Beycesultan Höyük in western Türkiye as the oldest known blue fabric discovered in a Bronze Age context in Anatolia and its periphery. The research analyses the fragment, identifies it as early evidence of nålbinding, an early single-needle knitting technique, and confirms the use of indigo in the region.

Top Stories
 
CIRCULARITY / RECYCLING / SECONDS / WASTE

Informal Recycling Work Heightens Exposure to Labour and Environmental Harm Across Value Chains, OECD Analysis Finds

Recycling processes in the garment and footwear sector were found to carry heightened labour, environmental and governance risks, driven by widespread informality, low margins and hazardous working conditions. The analysis highlighted forced labour, child labour, unsafe facilities and criminal waste practices as material exposures within collection, sorting and reprocessing systems.

 
FLASHPOINT: CLIMATE
Climate Impact / Garment Workers

A new Roadmap has urged global fashion brands sourcing from major garment-producing hubs to fund and implement a Just Energy Transition across their supply chains, warning that persistent financing gaps, weak adaptation measures and price-driven purchasing practices are shifting climate risks onto suppliers and workers throughout production networks.

Climate Action / AII Study

Continued climate inaction could place around 70% of projected market value at risk by 2040, while delayed regulatory compliance may significantly erode profitability. A new analysis by the Apparel Impact Institute (AII) has modelled the financial exposure associated with carbon pricing, supply-chain disruption and transition risks, outlining how early mitigation strategies alter cost trajectories and long-term enterprise resilience.

 
 
 
FOCUS: COTTON

‘MSP Isn’t Distorting Prices’: CCI Head on Imports, Yields, and the Road to Cotton Stability

The single largest cotton trading company and a public sector undertaking under the Union Ministry of Textiles, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), established in 1970, undertakes price support and commercial purchase operations to safeguard the economic interest of farmers in the cotton growing regions and to ensure its smooth supply to the textile industry. A Q&A with its Chairman-Cum-Managing Director, Lalit Kumar Gupta.

 
 
 
SPOTLIGHT EDITIONS: SELECT 4
 
 

"Quote Unquote"

Swapneshu Baser
Swapneshu Baser
Managing Director
Deven Supercriticals Pvt Ltd
The central engineering challenge was not making an existing dyeing process faster but eliminating the fundamental reasons why both conventional and prior-art CO₂ dyeing processes are slow. In conventional water-based dyeing, time is consumed by diffusion-limited exhaustion, repeated baths, fixation, washing, and multiple auxiliary chemical steps.

"Quote Unquote"

Mihir Bholey
Mihir Bholey
Former Principal Faculty, Interdisciplinary Design Studies, Science and Liberal Arts
National Institute of Design
In the Indian context, fashion is inseparable from textiles. India has a very rich textile tradition, deeply rooted in ethnic practices and aesthetics. At the same time, design is also a global language, and globalisation has led to homogenisation. When you visit superstores in Europe or Asia, you often see similar, standardised products. The truly distinctive items usually come from traditional markets. Once a product is converted into a brand, it risks becoming homogenised and losing its uniqueness.

 
FOCUS: LEATHER

IILF 2026 Exposes Gap Between Boardroom Sustainability and Tannery Floor Reality

Chennai's IILF 2026 exposed contradictions shaping India's leather industry: innovative chemical systems alongside organisational failures, Trump tariffs suppressing demand yet prices holding firm, and sustainability frameworks that never reach tannery workers. The 'Leather Carnival' demonstrated both the sector's professionalisation and its struggle to reconcile traditional identity with market realities.