#Associations

2020-10-15

Digital Pre-Convention Event to the 36th IAF World Fashion Convention

Coming November 10 and 11, the International Apparel Federation (IAF) will digitally host a ‘Pre-convention Event’ to its 36th World Fashion Convention due to take place in Antwerp June 7 – 9, 2021. We cannot meet physically in Antwerp now in 2020, but at the same time we cannot wait to discuss the topics that shape our industry’s future. Therefore, we are starting the discussions around the theme of the IAF’s 36th World Fashion Convention, “Transition in the Global Fashion System” already now, in November 2020, on www.iafconventionantwerp.com.

The digital pre-convention event will consist of two components. Firstly, on November 10 at 9 am CET, IAF will place online 5- minute movie clips by 7 prominent IAF members. Together these speakers will provide a unique global and cross-industry collection of visionary statements on the industry’s future. Second, on November 10 and on November 11, IAF will present a series of four different types online sessions, each tackling a major issue for the global apparel industry, bringing together relevant players in the fashion ecosystem.

The flagship session of these four will be an IAF-MOTIF webinar titled “Shared Risk and Reward in the Fashion Supply Chain”. Our three speakers will be: John Thorbeck, CEO of Chainge Capital and global expert in the field of fashion business transformation; Liz Simon, Chief Sustainable Transformation Officer at Fashion3, the fashion arm of AFM, the large family holding containing also Decathlon and Auchan and Anne Patricia Sutanto, Vice President at PT Pan Brothers, Indonesia’s largest apparel manufacturer. This webinar will answer the fundamental industry question whether the balancing of risk ánd reward is one of the keys to unlocking a better overall performance of the supply chain.

In the second session, IAF will connect its members and relations to the Fashion Technology Alliance project, a major global project bringing together educators, large and small brands and fashion technology providers. Some of the participants are London College of Fashion, Decathlon and PVH. The session will shed an interesting light on some of the new job descriptions and requirements required by the apparel industry because of the 3D digital design. The third session will discuss industry standards for digitization of product design and development, particularly the communication on digital fabric characteristics. A lot of work on standardization has been done by several brands and in this session the worlds of large brands and retailers and the rest of the industry are brought together. Finally, the fourth session tackles the long existing and prominent problem of audit and standard fatigue. IAF and ITMF have teamed up with the ITC (International Trade Centre) and will explain their progress in this project.

Industry business model transformation, the role of education and standardization are all topics driving our industry’s transition. IAF invites the industry to the conversations that really matter. Registrations for all sessions can be done through http://www.iafconventionantwerp.com.

Attendance is free and on a first come first serve basis.

IAF Position on tariffs

The International Apparel Federation (IAF) represents the apparel manufacturing community across more than 40 countries—a global industry comprising hundreds of thousands of companies and millions of employees. Apparel and textiles are among the most globalized industries, historically foundational to industrial development around the world.

IAF and ITMF unite global fashion and textile leaders

The joint ITMF Annual Conference and IAF World Fashion Convention was held on September 8-10 in the historic city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. This year’s convention, co-organized by the International Apparel Federation (IAF) and the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), and hosted by Uztextileprom, the Uzbekistan Textile and Garment Industry Association, and the Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Uzbekistan highlighted the crucial interdependence of our sectors.

Business situation weakens slightly, but the industry stays cautiously optimistic

The International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) has published the results of its 39th Global Textile Industry Survey (GTIS), conducted from 14 to 22 July 2026 among companies along the entire global textile value chain. Worldwide, 10% of participants rated their business situation as good, 53% as satisfactory and 37% as bad — a balance of -26pp, down from -17pp in May but still well above the 2023 lows. All regions are now in negative territory, from South Asia at -3pp to North & Central America at -58pp.

Italian textile machinery orders show quarterly recovery in Q2 2026

In the period between April and June 2026, order intake for Italian textile machinery manufacturers showed mixed but encouraging signals for the second half of the year. The order index at constant prices stood at 46.6 points (taking 2021=100 as the base year), showing a slight decrease of 3% compared to the same quarter of 2025. This trend was largely due to the contraction recorded in the domestic market, which fell by 25% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Heimtextil expands Bed, Bath & Living with new ‘Comfort & Connect’ area

Heimtextil is expanding its product range for Bed, Bath & Living in a targeted manner: ‘Comfort & Connect‘ is creating a new meeting place in the foyer of Hall 5.1 for high-quality bed, bath and lifestyle collections. Following on from ‘Sleep & Meet‘, this is now the second area where Heimtextil is further refining its offering for exhibitors and buyers. The new area brings together established brands, high-profile returning exhibitors and international buyers in a central location with easy access.

Ministry of Industry Delegation visits NatureWorks’ second global manufacturing site at Nakhon Sawan Biocomplex

NatureWorks Asia Pacific Limited welcomed a high-level delegation led by Mr. Varawut Silpa-archa, Minister of Industry, to its manufacturing site at the Nakhon Sawan Biocomplex (NBC). The visit follows the successful inauguration of the site on April 29, 2026, and highlights the role of public-private collaboration in advancing Thailand’s sustainable industrial development and bioeconomy ambitions.

Indorama Ventures advances circularity tthrough PETValue Philippines' “Zero Waste to Landfill Partnership” with Republic Cement

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, a global sustainable chemical company, is advancing the circular economy through a new Zero Waste to Landfill initiative at its recycling site PETValue Philippines, further demonstrating how collaboration across industries can maximize resource efficiency and reduce waste.

Networking Day 2026: Industry stakeholders unite around textile recycling

In 2026, the Industry Research Group (IRG) Polymer Recycling once again brought together some of the key stakeholders in textile recycling for its annual Networking Day. This year, the event took place at EREMA’s premises in Ansfelden, Austria. It brought together key players from across the textile recycling value chain for a day of structured exchange and in-depth discussions.