By Jim Phillips, Yarn Market Editor
The market disruption caused by the global novel coronavirus pandemic is beginning to affect virtually all aspects of the U.S. economy, including the entire textile/apparel supply chain.
For spinners, this means a likely precipitous — hopefully temporary — drop in demand. With retail stores around the world reducing hours, or closing altogether, sales of apparel, home fashions, home furnishings and other products are expected to decrease sharply over the near term.
“Right now, it’s just wait and see,” said one industry expert. “With retailers like Abercrombie, Levi’s and Nordstrom closing at least through the end of March, we expect to see a general slowdown in orders across the entire supply chain. How deeply it will affect individual companies — and the industry as a whole — will depend on how long the epidemic lasts.”
一位高管说：“从业务角度来看，我们真正关注的是这将持续多久。”“如果持续时间足够长以影响返校和假日订单，那么对于整个行业来说，它可能会变成糟糕的一年。”
Already, with retailers, restaurants and others closing their doors, economists are projecting a global recession. “It’s hard to say how long it will take the economy to recover,” noted one economist.
“So much depends on how much containment we are able to achieve through such measures as social distancing. Worst-case projections show that up to 20 percent of Americans could be unemployed at some point during this crisis.”
Most spinners are still operating a full schedule, but are taking precautions to protect employees.
一位旋转器说：“我们正在庇护所。”“目前，我们的植物都不是病毒热点。但是，我们限制了对所有设施的访问，以防止我们的人们获得冠状病毒。”
He continued: “Obviously, our first concern is our people. But we are closely monitoring retail sales to see how our business might be affected. In times like these, some products will be difficult to move. But opportunities open for others.”
一位行业分析师预测对医疗纺织品的需求很高。“问题是在需求通过之前是否可以满足需求的巨大增加。面具，礼服等在接下来的几个月中应该会很好。”
Sustainability Continues To Build Momentum
While the coronavirus epidemic dominates the news, other events of note are occurring. The Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles (SMART) Association celebrated Global Recycling Day on March 18, 2020. This annual awareness day is organized by the Global Recycling Foundation and is designed to promote the role recycling plays in preserving the earth’s primary resources. The event’s 2020 theme is “recycling heroes” — a salute to unsung recycling heroes across the globe, including people, groups, organizations, and businesses who champion recycling practices and habits.
For SMART, increasing awareness of textile reuses and recycling is of utmost importance on Global Recycling Day. Textile waste has a dramatic global impact; the average U.S. adult discards 81 pounds of clothing each year. Of this, only 15 percent actually gets donated or recycled, with a staggering 85 percent of textile waste directed to landfills.
“What many don’t realize is that through the work of our members, nearly 1 billion pounds of textiles are diverted from landfills annually, which saves our environment from tons of harsh chemicals, waste products, wastewater and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Jackie King, SMART’s executive director.
Numerous spinners have well-entrenched sustainability programs in place, such as Unifi’s REPREVE® yarns and American & Efird’s Ten Threads of Sustainability. A&E’s parent, Elevate Textiles, also is committed across all of its business units to achieve sustainability milestones by 2025. Commitments include using responsibly sourced fibers, as well as reducing water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
2020年3月/4月
