International Textile Federation Annual Meeting: New Crown Pneumonia Epidemic: Reshaping Global Textile Supply Chain

The International Textile Federation 2020 annual conference was held from October 20 to 22. The conference was held in the form of video. The main venue was located in Seoul, South Korea, and there were one sub venue for China, Brazil and Germany. The theme of this annual meeting is "new crown pneumonia epidemic: reshaping the global textile supply chain". Industry leaders, experts and scholars from various countries and regions focus on "Korean textile industry", "management and data", "fiber (cotton + man-made fiber)", "sustainability and circular economy", "SLCP social labor integration project", "the future of China's textile industry", "climate action charter for fashion industry", "textiles for innovation and technology" and "collaboration" In depth exchanges and discussions were held on the nine topics.

1、 "Cooperation" of International Textile Federation annual conference 2020

On October 22, the International Textile Federation 2020 annual conference entered the third day of the meeting content, and the last topic was "cooperation". Xu Yingxin, vice president of China Textile Industry Federation, as the first speaker of the proposal, delivered "open China's textile industry and the world hand in hand".

In his speech, president Xu first introduced the opening up of China's textile industry. According to the latest data of China Customs, China's textile and garment exports totaled US $215.8 billion in the first three quarters of 2020, up 9.4% year-on-year. Among them, textile export was 118 billion US dollars, up 33.7% year-on-year; clothing export was 97.8 billion US dollars, down 10.3% year-on-year. Despite the great impact of the new crown epidemic this year, China's textile industry exports have achieved a hard won positive growth, showing strong supply chain stability and development toughness. Among them, masks, as one of the most active export products this year, have contributed to global anti epidemic.

In terms of overseas investment, affected by the epidemic situation, the development of foreign investment of Chinese textile enterprises in the first half of 2020 will be impacted to a certain extent, and the situation of foreign investment of the industry in the short term is still not optimistic. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce of the people's Republic of China, from January to June 2020, the amount of foreign investment in the textile industry was only 472 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 42.4%. The decline in the same period was much higher than that of the overall manufacturing industry (the foreign investment of the manufacturing industry decreased by 15.6% in the same period).

Opening up of China's textile industry is inseparable from some practical measures. President Xu introduced the innovation in science and technology, system, mode and format in promoting the import and export, trade and two-way investment, trade and industry coordinated development, striving to deepen bilateral and multilateral cooperation and promote the joint construction of the "belt and Road initiative". At the same time, he also accelerated the construction of an open platform to promote the industry to be responsible and feasible Sustainable development.

Finally, president Xu proposed that we should uphold the concept of openness and inclusiveness, continue to strengthen connectivity in technology, investment, trade, market, supply chain, sustainability and other fields, so as to promote the common development of the global textile industry with mutual benefit and win-win results.

The second speaker, from El Salvador, introduced the internal and external factors of supply chain cooperation in the context of the epidemic.

The last guest from Li & Fung Group introduced the importance of supply chain collaboration.

2、 Topics of the International Textile Federation 2020 annual conference sustainability and circular economy

The meeting set up the topic of "sustainability and circular economy". Firstly, Ge Yiwen, CEO of Hong Kong textile and garment research association, was invited to introduce the sustainability of the new circular economy and the new 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) principle. Consumers are more and more concerned about the change of consumers' consumption environment, and more and more attention is paid to the change of consumers' consumption environment. For example, this year's epidemic has led to consumers' interest in masks and protective clothing, demanding that textiles be given more functionality. He also pointed out that in the industry, it is necessary to think about what materials should be used to make the environment more sustainable; it is not only about profits, but also about whether it is environmentally friendly; more attention should be paid to the invention of new materials in order to give people higher value consumption.

Karl Hendrik Magnus, McKinsey, Germany, shared with you how the fashion industry can act quickly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Some studies show that in 2018, the greenhouse gas emissions of fashion industry in France, Germany and the United Kingdom accounted for 4% of the global total, which is a relatively large proportion. So we need to study how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fiber to clothing. Some studies also show that fiber production, consumer behavior and brand manufacturers account for 61%, 21% and 18% of emissions respectively, which is good news for investors, because some emission reduction measures can be taken to achieve the goal of emission reduction, and the production cost of enterprises can be reduced.

Yan Yan, deputy director of China Textile Information Center, was invited to introduce the practice of creating fashion cycle in China's textile and garment industry. She pointed out that circular economy will be the theme for a long time to come. Many European countries have mentioned the development of circular economy in recent years. The Chinese government also supports the development of circular economy and put forward the development strategy of circular economy as early as 2005. It is very necessary for China's textile industry to develop circular economy. On the one hand, China's textile and garment industry has a large scale, and its development will encounter resource constraints. On the other hand, China has a huge consumer market. The circular fashion of China's textile and garment will have great changes in the world. China's textile and garment industry is speeding up the construction of a green cycle low-carbon industrial system, based on the global value chain to promote the transformation and upgrading of the industry, so as to achieve a more responsible and more resilient industry in the future.

3、 IFF 2020 annual conference topics - fiber (cotton + man-made fiber)

On the issue of fiber (cotton + man-made fiber), experts from cedley, Reliance Industries of India, wood Mackenzie international energy macro research in Singapore, cotton association of India, cotton association of Egypt, cotton company of America were invited to express their views on chemical fiber and cotton.

Sharon Chong: This paper introduces the experience of seideli enterprises in accelerating innovation and realizing scale circulation. In recent years, seideli has carried out resource integration, greatly improving the product quality of the enterprise, expanding the production scale, and further improving the stability of the enterprise's industrial chain, and realizing the traceability of each fiber. In the process of sustainable development, Sedley has always been in accordance with international laws and regulations, and its standards have always been higher than the industry standards. It has also discussed sustainable development with upstream and downstream customers through various platforms. Saideli stressed that no matter how the enterprise develops in the future, it will follow a principle: it is good for the environment.

R.D. udeshi, India's Reliance Industries Company, introduced the impact of the epidemic on polyester industry and recycled fibers. In 2020, the global economy will further decline. In early June, the company expected the turnover to decline by more than 30%, but the actual decline rate in September was 16%. This may be because the company has started to receive new orders since June. In 2020, the global polyester industry is expected to return to the level of 2018, with a decline of 3% - 4% compared with that in 2019, that is to say, the demand for polyester will decrease. However, manufacturers need not be pessimistic. This decline is only temporary, and the industry will certainly recover in the future. India has been considering the introduction of renewable fiber into the sustainable fashion field. Zero pollution and zero emission are becoming the new pursuit of the industry.

However, it is expected that the demand for new fibers in Singapore will not be able to meet the demand of the whole industry, including the demand for fibers, which will be greatly reduced from the previous 10 years. For the sustainable development of fibers, Alexei sinitsa believes that biodegradable renewable materials can be used, recycling efforts should be increased, and pollution emissions can be reduced. He predicted that in the next decade, there might be a "bottle war" in the world, and now it is necessary to think about the recycling of packaging materials.

Vinay Kotak, vice president of Cotton Association of India: introduced the cotton association of India and prospected the future development of the industry. India is the world's second largest cotton production and consumption country, and the third largest cotton exporter. Due to the impact of heavy rain on September 15, this year's cotton harvest may be greatly affected. Due to the influence of the epidemic situation and other factors, the association predicted that cotton production would not fully recover to the pre epidemic level until October 2021. In order to solve the problems of poor quality and pollution of cotton, the Indian government has launched a series of measures to produce high-quality cotton. The Ministry of textile plans to launch a new policy concept in 2025. This policy will help promote the modernization, sustainable development and inclusiveness of the whole industry, and support the development of the textile, clothing and industrial textile industries.

Khaled Schuman, the Egyptian Cotton Association, introduced the experience of Egyptian cotton in coping with the challenge of the new crown epidemic. The new crown epidemic has led to a 30% reduction in textile orders in Egypt. Enterprises are trying to improve their R & D capabilities, open up e-commerce channels, and develop medical products to meet the challenges. In addition, the Egyptian government also attaches great importance to cotton production. At present, it is introducing advanced technology and equipment to improve cotton production efficiency, improve product quality and reduce pollution. Meanwhile, the sustainable development of Egypt's cotton is realized through cotton bag traceability and other certification projects.

Mark messura, an American cotton company, introduced the innovation and sustainable development of cotton in the world supply chain to meet the needs of textile manufacturers. Cotton also has a lot of innovation. In the past, cotton companies have introduced some new technologies, especially those applicable to product design and development, which are becoming more and more important. For example, electronic tracking, simulated retail, and so on, these technologies have been for some time, but the most interesting and innovative technology is actually about product design software, especially the use of 3D design software to create and design clothing. Why do people begin to use more digital methods for procurement design? Because this method can realize people's idea faster, can make the product appear on the market faster, can control the product cost, can carry on the tailor-made product for various consumer groups and markets, and is more in line with the trend of sustainable development.