LATEST UPDATE

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.

Top Stories
 
CIRCULARITY / RECYCLING / SECONDS / WASTE

The Coming Age of Smart Garments Demands a New Waste Doctrine

Advanced textiles that monitor health, motion and environment are moving out of laboratories and toward retail shelves. These hybrid garments carry conductive metals, mixed polymers and embedded electronics that existing recycling systems cannot handle. Regulation, disassembly standards and material transparency must arrive before commercial rollout begins in earnest across global consumer markets and outpaces the infrastructure meant to contain it.

 
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

Climate Pressure Forces a Reckoning Across Pakistan's Cotton Belt

Fragmented pilot projects have long defined regenerative agriculture efforts in Pakistan's cotton sector, but mounting climate and market pressures are exposing the limits of that approach. Drawing on a recent industry roundtable, Abou Bakar, Country Representative – Pakistan, CottonConnect, explains what a coordinated national framework would look like, and why farmer incentives and traceability now sit at the centre of that conversation.

 
 
 
SPOTLIGHT EDITIONS: SELECT 4
 

"Quote Unquote"

Anita Reddy
Anita Reddy
Founder
DWARAKA
The artists of DWARAKA would never compromise on what they believe to be the authentic, time-driven, labor-oriented processes involved in hand-painted Kalamkari using “Kalams” as their forefathers did too. Regardless of the push from the market, strategic planning and distribution of responsibilities lend support to these processes. In DWARAKAs experience the artists share their skills, and art with the buyers, who adapts concepts from the shown possibilities, and then modify it into new ideas or concepts where required.

"Quote Unquote"

Nelson Dias Suassuna
Nelson Dias Suassuna
Senior Researcher
Embrapa
For small-scale agriculture, the key differentiator will be adding value to the fibre or seed, or both, either through the production of higher value-added fibres (long/extra-long fibres, such as Peruvian Pima cotton or naturally coloured cotton in the semi-arid region of Brazil). But perhaps the most important factor for this second scenario is the organisation of producers into associations or cooperatives.
 
 
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.