TOP STORY

How Changing Indian Bodies and Tastes Are Redrawing Intimatewear Manufacturing

Seamless construction has given Indian intimatewear a new vocabulary of comfort, softness and stretch, yet the manufacturing economics behind it remain demanding. Pankaj Kabutarwala, Founder and Owner of Piccion, a venture of Pigeon Industries, argues that advanced Italian machinery matters far less than four decades of accumulated knowledge in yarns, dyeing and integrated garment production.

Other Top Stories
 
CIRCULARITY / RECYCLING / SECONDS / WASTE

Recycling Cannot Repair What the Production Phase Has Already Locked In

The environmental debate around fast fashion has long turned on a single question: cotton or polyester, which is greener. A comprehensive lifecycle assessment now suggests the question itself was misplaced. Tracing garments from raw material through disposal, the research finds transport mode and garment lifespan reshape emissions by margins that no fibre substitution can match.

 
FLASHPOINT: CLIMATE
Material Innovation / Bezos Fund

Breakthrough textile materials have received $34 million in new Bezos Earth Fund grants, backing research into bacterial fibres, spider-silk-inspired biodegradable materials, coloured cotton and cotton seedbank restoration. The funding targets materials that can match rayon, silk and cotton while improving cost, performance and environmental outcomes across fashion and textile supply chains.

Climate Action / Ethiopia Project

Climate resilience, productivity and workplace safety are being advanced across Ethiopia's leather, textile and garment sector through a new ILO-Japan joint initiative. The one-year programme targets 40 factories across five cities, integrating Japanese expertise, digitalised safety tools and a women's leadership development programme to drive sustainable and inclusive industrial growth.

 
 
 
FOCUS: COTTON

Goods Need 90% Certified Fibre Content to Qualify Under Newly Launched Textile Processing Standard

A new certification route now brings previously ineligible textile fibres into the Global Standards system, subject to independent verification against recognised third-party criteria. Global Standards, the non-profit behind the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), has developed the standard from decades of certification experience, and eligibility now extends past the organic sector.

 
 
 
SPOTLIGHT EDITIONS: SELECT 4
 

"Quote Unquote"

Susan Walker
Susan Walker
Founder
Ibu
We hear from artisan partners again and again that when the women see their work in a global setting, with their names or that of their organization attached, it elevates their self-perception and changes the way they consider their ability to impact their families and communities through their craft.

"Quote Unquote"

José Luis Spontón
José Luis Spontón
Researcher
Reconquista Experimental Research Station
In the primary cotton production sector specifically, with its diversity of actors across the Latin American territory, making a particular technology or productive technique widely adopted requires different "incentives" depending on whether the producers are family-scale or large-scale. In many cases, the absence of those incentives is precisely what limits the widespread adoption of many available technological advances.
 
 
FOCUS: LEATHER

Major Reorganisation Positions Fierecongressi as a More Competitive Force in Global Exhibition Markets

A major internal reorganisation, aligned with a growth strategy and a substantial infrastructure investment programme, has reshaped Fierecongressi's operational model. The restructuring establishes a dedicated Internationalisation Area, merges two business units into a single Fairs Business Unit, and introduces a product-oriented structure to strengthen the company's competitive position in the global exhibition and congress market.