2021 JULY
iApparel Journal Quarterly Issue
FROM THE DESK OF
THE PUBLISHER
Andrew Sia
I came across this advertisement from the New York Times dated May 6, 2021. It mentioned the Asian American Pacific Islander community need to be seen because of the recent anti-Asian violence that actually existed long before the Covid-19 pandemic.
I am not here to provoke this issue but to bring the attention to the rising crime rates last year compared with previous years, especially the election for the new mayor for New York City this time and the debate was dominated by how candidates would tackle the city’s rising crime rates. Murders last year rose by 43% and we are on track to be higher this year than last.
We have noted the other cities’ crime rates have increased as the following:
Philadelphia +40%,
Houston +42%,
Denver +51%
Washington DC +19%.
We were told that situation in Chicago is even worse—close to its 1974 peak with 1,000 people being murdered
Democrats are blaming the Republicans’ refusal to consider the gun control, which resulted in the mass shootings.
Also the relationship between the communities and the law enforcement have become so dire is due to the fact that a lot of the minorities do not trust them. For cities where the police withdrew at the protests drawn the highest jumps in murder rates. This included cities like the following:
Minneapolis +75%,
Portland, Oregon +60%
Seattle +41%.
According to Gallup, only a fifth of African-Americans want fewer police in the street, but where police are more visible, crime rate usually drops.
Restrain of the law enforcement and the exemption of small crime draw the return of the drug dealers and drug addicts. The homelessness are becoming common and obvious again in the American cities—especially New York. Bringing up the defunding of the police is hurting the morale of the law enforcement. I doubt if the politicians have the wisdom or not when they try to bring up this subject as a threat.
If this trend will persist, especially at this period of the pandemic, where the demographic is moving out of cities toward suburbs and create the unaffordability of the cities, eventually the liberals will take most of the blame because of their leniency to the minorities and the less privileged ones.
Now, without any further delay, we will walk you through the articles of this July issue.
– Andrew Sia
Founder & Publisher
Preview all articles of this
Quarterly Issue !
Special Report
Global Fashion & Exhibition Calendar - July to December 2021
By Andrew Sia
For the two years, 2020 and 2021, we have noticed that all the trade shows have went for digital but the situation is slowly improving. Since the traveling is not back to normal and this is still a hesitation.
We continue to report the trade shows and hopefully that they can be useful. And we should try the digital shows to know what is going around us in our industry.
The last we read that Interfière Paris will be held from September 3-5 and when we hear more from the organizer, Eurovet, we will make the report.
Coronavirus Regional Report
April | May | June
2021
By Andrew Sia
Coronavirus Regional Report, April 2021
With the developed countries led by the United States, half of the adults have been inoculated with at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, and already travelling is handling with one million passengers per day but this is largely restricted to the domestic. The European countries are already talking about taking holidays in countries like Greece, Cyprus and Spain and those countries who have been depending on tourists are craving for this pandemic to be over. The hope is the vaccine’s control of the virus from spreading, but the question is if it can be contained.
The talk about vaccine passport is on the discussion board now between the countries to prove the safety for the travelers.
We tried to keep track of this pandemic on the monthly basis and we hope that the data can be useful for any consideration.
Coronavirus Regional Report, May 2021
This month’s report started with the big explosion of the coronavirus in India due to the negligence of its Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who put the guard down and started the legislative assembly elections and mixed with a major Hindu festival— Kumbh Mela, where millions turn up without masks and social distancing.
Earlier on, its government agency predicted the country would soon achieve herd immunity which was erroneous. The country is paying a huge price for the mistakes.
India’s Serum Institute, world largest vaccine manufacturer, is holding back its export and started to provide vaccinations for the local population.
Coronavirus Regional Report, June 2021
In this report we have a special feature discussing the situation in the US for the Covid-19. We also discuss about the variants that developed across the world.
Should Shoptalk be Renamed IT Talk
By Terri Fisher
The contributor, Terri Fisher, our co-founder and key writer of the iApparel Journal made her third report about ShopTalk. Under this difficult time, with her sharp eyes and experience in the retail world, she spotted opportunities out there. And I also believe that the “mom and pop” shops in the smaller town will make a comeback.
I want to quote “what goes around, comes around” which is very true.
Resale Retail
By Terri Fisher
In this issue, we started to look at sustainability from the consumer’s shopping behavior, and Terri alerted our attention to pay for attention and we followed by two articles under the Environmental & Sustainability. We never could have thought that this resale business model can grow into a $64 billion business in 2024. It is also a business for the startups, especially for those who will start their life in another country, and there are different business models to study.
Market Intelligence
Market Intelligence Short Read - Part 1
By Andrew Sia
Would like to point out the highlights for this news clips are two articles:
“Online Business Will Need to Put the Acts Together” which is relating to the comprehensive services that can help to distinguish the e-commerce company.
“New Roles for Retail Workers” where the retraining will be necessary to allow them to further their careers.
Market Intelligence Short Read - Part 2
By Andrew Sia
On the whole, the retail business has increased, and we can see that Victoria’s Secret is emerging as a standalone company, separated with Bath & Body Works, and its earlier suitor, Sycamore Partners, is kicking themselves for walked away from the deal in January, 2020 for the 55% with $1.1 billion. Now VS is probably worth $6 billion. See who is laughing now?
Market Intelligence Short Read - Part 3
By Andrew Sia
The news clip that caught my attention is the Tokyo Olympics which we have reported several times already. We come to know that it is the heaviest sponsored event in the history of Olympics. There are too many interests and even the International Olympic Committee is ready to risk the public health and said that it is the first great global initiative happening post-pandemic.
The daily new cases of Covid is still around 2,000 in Japan.
China’s Market Attitude Towards Lingerie
By Andrew Sia
The market was once dominated by international brands—Triumph, Wacoal, Embry, but has shifted to domestic brands. And the year 2020 was an exceptional year for lingerie startups and digital bra labels.
This trend was already made possible in 2018 when startup capital was poured into the market for the digital bra startups.
The market has been moving to bras that prioritized in comfort and simplicity, and no more push-up bras.
Sportswear Market in China July 2021 Report
By Andrew Sia
China is without question the largest apparel market. Sportswear is a very interesting topic and from the response of our readers, we found that this topic is the most sought after. It is still the market segment that can continue to grow.
We have promised that we will continue to feature this topic for the issues to come. We ask you to stay tune.
By Andrew Sia
The credit of these two articles are from the Financial Times—Helen Barrett and Beatrice Hodgkin on May 30 and May 31, 2021 respectively. We used to report on swimwear in January of every year and knowing the industry will have their new season’s collection out in March for the summer season already.
I found it interesting as the attitude should change like the other clothing categories—like trainers (and it is the shoes), sports bras, power leggings. The swimwear designers would need to put their efforts here. I enjoy the 1940s glamor and it has never been outdated. I hope for this you can agree.
Fashion & Design
Brand Intelligence - Introducing Araks
By InDigest
Araks is the brand created by Araks Yeramyan who is an artist with colors. She brings out the differences, such as the same color can bring different feelings to different people and it is a contradiction between restrain and freedom, concealment and exposure.
Brand Intelligence - Introducing Lorette
By InDigest
It is created by Laure Stromboni who moved from Paris to live in Toronto and she created this line of underwear. It is giving the women living in Toronto the freedom to choose something to free themselves ad tried to change their narrow view.
Functional Fabrics for Our Skin Protection
By InDigest
Knowing our skin especially during the cold weather when the air is dry can cause the itchiness. IN-Digest introduced Sicheng Knitting as the knitter and the use of different yarns to help us to live through the season.
Design Inspo: Special Report 2021
By Genevieve Redding
It is a special market report from Genevieve showing us what is out there in the market. I found that it is interesting and can certainly bring some inspirations to our readers who are in this fashion lingerie industry.
Fashion Quote: Sonia Rykiel
Written by : Andrew Sia | Illustrated by : Elita Lam
It started with the famous quote by the renowned designer, but the more we studied the character, we found that the business failed by the Fung Brothers from Hong Kong and was under the management of First Heritage Brands in 2019. But the designer, Sonia Rykiel died in 2016.
Now it is in the hand of the French online store, Showroomprive, and it was supposed to revive the brand in 2020. Perhaps the timing was wrong.
Market Report
Market Report Short Read - Part 1
By Andrew Sia
Headlines throughout the world was the stuck of the container ship in Suez Canal exposed the fragility of our supply chain which will need to be revisited and restructured. We found out also that Suez Canal is one of our supply chain’s main vascular.
It also exposed our other fragile part which is the world’s dependence on the supply of the 5 nanometer computer chips from TSMC in Taiwan. It is sitting on a bomb waiting to go off as the political tension is building every day.
All this is contradicting to our supply chain which is becoming the demand chain.
The worst is the mutation of the coronavirus and Brazil alone has been found with 92 variants and the P.1 is known as the Brazil variant. We have never seen our world in such a big trouble.
Market Report Short Read - Part 2
By Andrew Sia
The supply chain of the solar panels in relating to the clean energy and the alternative energy is calling for sourcing elsewhere to rebuild its supply chain. Other than that, our new clips are still surrounding the news of the coronavirus as it is still a plague that the world will have to overcome.
Market Report Short Read - Part 3
By Andrew Sia
We believed the original intention to bring tariffs onto the Chinese imports was to curb the increase and try to bring some work back to the American soil. We found that it was lowered to $472 billion in March 2021 from its peak of $539 billion. But we found that it has benefited Vietnam instead and domestically it hardly benefited the US workers. There was no plan to turn the situation around.
It is like to rob Peter to pay poor.
Market Report Short Read - Part 4
By Andrew Sia
In this part 4 we have posted 20 news clips and most of them were related to the reporting of the Covid-19. We found the one relating to the Bitcoin which we titled as “Bitcoin’s Impact On the Environment” the most interesting. It is not only that it is coming now more to the attention of the people but we found that 70% of the “mining” is done in China and the electricity that it is using is alongside the steelmaking and cement production.
Market Report Short Read - Part 5
By Andrew Sia
The highlights here are the cryptocurrency and the report of the G7 Summit that was held in Cornwall. In a certain sense, the cryptocurrency is from a group of anarchists and favored by the mongers. The G7 is purely a contest between democracy with the autocratic governments, although China was not singled out during the summit.
China the Giant Juggernaut - Part 7
By Andrew Sia
China is set to outdo the West and to make a lot of wealth which is already a fact. This article is pointing out to you to the China Standard 2035 which it has set to lead the world. In fact China is already heading several United Nations Specialized Agencies to help them to reach their goals in the different arena.
It has been found that they have a saying already: Third-tier companies make products, second-tier companies make technology, and top-tier companies set standards.
Misery on the UK High Street
On November 30, Arcadia Group—owner of Topshop/Topman, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Burton, Wallis and Outfit went into administration, which is the same as entering into Chapter 11 here in the US. The following day, Debenhams—the beleaguered department store chain, went into administration for the second time in 12 months.
The two announcements put the fashion retail industry in misery, not only Arcadia’s 13,000 retail staff and Debenhams’ 12,000 retail staff, but also the future of the high street at large. Considering the number of stores—Arcadia Group’s 444 UK sites and 22 overseas; Debenhams’ 124 remaining stores, with retail facades all boarded up, the store closures will leave a big vacuum in the high street. The landlords are struggling to fill amid the enduring coronavirus pandemic and the Covid-19 crisis exacerbated.
Digital Currency & Its Threats
By Andrew Sia
With 2,000 cryptocurrencies commonly traded around the world, but they have been related to illegal trading and even money laundry. No question, it is revolutionary, but we need to have the laws to be drafted around it and make every one of us comfortable in using it in our daily life. We believe that the day will come.
This article was written in view of China’s launching of its digital yuan and with its ambition in chipping away the dominance of the US dollar eventually. But later, China denied it and said that it is more meant for its domestic market.
Myanmar Military Junta is Putting the Human Rights Activists On Trial
By Andrew Sia
It is the only country in the Indochina Peninsula that was not under the French colonial ruling, it was under the British at that time. But with the exception of Thailand, who has never been colonized.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is the country with many different ethnic groups. Recently the Rohingya, a minority Muslim group in a Buddhist-majority country, trying to live in between the borders of Myanmar with the neighboring Bangladesh have been in the spotlight of the human rights issue.
This time, the military junta took the country by surprise and on February 1, it rounded up the country’s political leaders and threw them in jail. So far, a total of 3,000 activists and politicians have been detained and 700 were killed. The military is ruling the country by arresting, abducting and assaulting civilians and rule the country by fear.
Military censorship of internet across the nation is making the situation worse.
Courtesy of: en-wikipedia.org
Under such circumstance, the garment industry can perhaps be ignored until the country can crawl back again from this state of turmoil.
ENVIRONMENTAL & SUSTAINABILITY
Global Sustainable Fashion Report
Sustainable Fashion Report - US
By Andrew Sia
This is the first of a series of reports which we will report on the developed countries as it is focusing on the resell of fashion clothing. Without question that it is a growing market and it will increase its presence in the consumer’s wardrobe.
Thrift shops have been known for their vintage clothing and that cater to a special clientele but this more modern-day approach, when we are talking about the millennials and the Generation Z, they are turning it into a lifestyle. This type of business will grow in the digital world and through the social media it can boost its presence and also the importance.
Progress Report on the Paris Climate Agreement - Part 12
By Andrew Sia
In this issue we continued the hydrogen energy, and although it is plenty, but we will need “low carbon energy” and not to emphasize to use fossil fuel to derive hydrogen energy. We see the potential of wind and solar energy, but to store this energy and the building of wind and solar energy farm is so important for its success.
Like previous issues, we covered many energy options and what we need to observe. We hope that the information can be useful.
Green is The New Black
By Caroline Kopas
Caroline is our youngest writer and since she took up this writing assignment, she has been focusing on sustainability which plays very well in our journal.
This time she did an interview of Angie Kim from the Sustainability Coordinators of Purchase College. I have been taken by its first sentence, “It’s not just about cutting back, but it is more about maintaining resources so that they can be long lasting and have as little impact on the environment and the global community as possible.”
Such wisdom in using the words.
SUPPLY CHAIN
Globalization Needs Reinvigorate - Part 1
We have started this as a series and would like to report on the new challenges of the globalization of which the supply chain plays a very important role. We believe that the post-pandemic will bring us very challenging situation that we will need to overcome soon.
We will continue to do the research and the study and hope that this can become a volume of its own eventually.
BOOK REPORT
Underwear Fashion in Detail by Eleri Lynn
Report by Andrew Sia
The writer, Eleri Lynn, took the collection from the Victoria and Albert Museum, and showed us those vintage underwear pieces that played an important role in fashions of those days.
We can look at them as the art pieces from the museum and admired, but there is not much for us to adopt in today’s underwear fashion.
The underwear now is catering more towards the mass market where the importance of those plus size is something we cannot neglect.
It is certainly a different world now. Perhaps that luxurious underwear is only meant for a few nowadays.
ACADEMIC & EDUCATION
Newark School of Design & Fashion Partnership with Parsons School of Design
By Andrew Sia
The school will start its grade 9 in September as planned originally. Now with Parsons coming on board, it will become more recognizable and will draw the attention from the industry for any future collaboration.
It is a great news at this time during the pandemic.
Update May 5, 2021 Newly posted on Newark Board of Education
