Updates

A four-year research programme led by Woolmark and North Carolina State University positions merino wool as a natural performance fibre, offering a clear advantage in thermal performance as it behaves well across both activity and rest phases—a critical benefit in dynamic sports.

For every fashion brand aligned with Paris Agreement benchmarks, nearly six are increasing their pollution, says a new analysis by environmental advocacy group Stand.earth, whose 2025 Fossil Free Fashion Scorecard assesses the top apparel and footwear brands on several climate indicators.

A new study explores how social media influencers impact the well-being of young shoppers, revealing that FOMO—fear of missing out—can drive fashion purchases and emotional responses. The research highlights how emotional attachment to influencers affects young consumers’ social, psychological, and financial health.

FESPA Global Print Expo 2026, alongside European Sign Expo and Personalisation Experience, will take place in Barcelona from 19–22 May. Sportswear Pro returns, while the 2025 FESPA Awards celebrated innovation across global print, packaging, and signage. With 278 entries, the awards marked a record-breaking year for creative excellence in print.

The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) and Seiko Epson Corporation’s year-long collaboration has succeeded in repurposing waste cotton fabric to develop regenerated cellulose fibre with strength of cotton.

The UK Government has been urged to adopt a variable EPR system to support and safeguard textiles manufacturing businesses by designing and selling more circular products, and by offering circular services like repair and reuse.

The European Union has awarded the first Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) registration for cotton to Turkiye’s ‘Söke Pamuğu’, in recognition of its special characteristics tied to the region’s environment and its traditional cultivation methods which will in the long run enhance the product’s economic value for local producers.

Why is depolymerisation of post-consumer textile waste in Europe not scaling up? A report discusses the issue at length and suggests coordinated action by policy and industry on ten interdependent levers that should be activated together to reach a tipping point.

A new report from Cotton Campaign pulls no punches: despite minor cosmetic changes, Turkmenistan’s cotton industry continues to thrive on state-imposed forced labour. The 2024 harvest, as documented in a forensic 30-page investigation, lays bare the coercive machinery that feeds global textile supply chains—right from the fields of Central Asia to factory floors in Türkiye, Pakistan, Italy, and beyond.

Nonprofit WRAP has warned that if the UK’s used textiles sector goes under, charities, local authorities and consumers will have to pay the cost of dealing with unwanted used textiles.