Today’s new edition of the TextileFuture Newsletter is offering you a variety of short features, some with the capability to load down further information. Thus a sort of an amalgan of long items and features we normally produce.
The first feature is by Guest author Lucie Maguire from Vogue Business, entitled “Inside Twitch’s play for fashion”
The second item is a invitation for a Webinar by McKinsey Live on September 23, 2020 on “Sustainable fashion: How the fashion industry can act urgently to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions”
The third feature is on how Alibaba will change manufacturing, coupled with the fourth short item China Is the World’s Manufacturing Superpower and the related graphic by Statista
The last item is on “Companies return to work after an unusual summer—and grapple with an uncertain future” by Mc Kinsey with the possibility to download a full collection of the companies coronavirus-related content, visual insights from our “chart of the day,” a curated collection of McKinsey’s first 100 coronavirus articles, the suite of tools to help leaders respond to the pandemic, and how our editors choose images that help readers visualise the impact of an invisible threat, as well as a full set of the latest perspectives on COVID-19 download full briefing materials.
All of that means, that you do get even more information at your individual choice.
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Here starts the first feature
Inside Twitch’s play for fashion
By Lucie Maguire from Vogue Business
It has 140 million monthly users worldwide, mostly streaming video games. Could Twitch be a new platform for luxury brands too?
Burberry this week became the first luxury fashion brand to partner with Twitch, signifying a new era for the fast-growing live-streaming platform for gamers.
In a groundbreaking collaboration, Amazon-owned Twitch streamed the Burberry Spring/Summer 2021 show from London Fashion Week, demonstrating its potential for luxury marketers. The hour-long stream garnered approximately 42000 concurrent views. Streamed in “squad stream mode” to offer multiple perspectives from celebrities like Bella Hadid and Rosalía, the show marked a radical departure from Twitch’s usual content — live streaming mega-hit video games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty.
Twitch is confident that luxury fashion has a place on the platform, says Adam Harris, global head of brand partnerships at the company. Twitch was acquired by Amazon in 2014 for USD 1 billion and had average concurrent viewer numbers of 1.44 million in March of this year, a remarkable figure by any standards. User numbers rose by 57 % in the first four weeks of lockdown. Although audiences are broadening in terms of age, 43 % of its user base is Gen Z. “The younger generation in particular are very savvy,” says Harris. “It’s quite hard to get them to engage with brands and activities, but with Twitch it’s a live community-based experience. People are able to simultaneously watch something and discuss it in real time. This opens up a whole host of opportunities for Burberry.”
Streetwear brands have taken notice of the platform’s engaged user base: Champion and Anti Social Social Club have created exclusive collections with Twitch streamers, and the platform’s top users have launched their own merchandise.
It remains to be seen how luxury brands can make an impact on Twitch. James McQuivey, vice president, principal analyst at Forrester, says they have to understand the Twitch audience. “We often have these catalysing moments where we realise gaming is bigger than we thought, and we’re having that kind of event right now with streaming.”
The gamer stereotype is of a teenage boy in his bedroom, but Twitch’s user base is now broader, claims the company. Broadly speaking, 45 % of gamers are women, according to the Entertainment Software Association. These viewerThe Anti Social Social Club x FaZe Clan collaboration and streamer FaZe Swagg’s merch line. Both collections sold out.
“Consumers are driving this interest in platforms like Twitch and marketers are in turn capitalising on the platform’s expanding demographic and ability to provide deeper engagements,” says Nicole Greene, senior director and analyst at Gartner. “It’s a great opportunity for brands that are willing and have that ability to take that risk.”
Why Twitch?
Twitch believes it has unexploited potential. “Brands are beginning to realise that Twitch is a great way to engage with Gen Z, who are trying to avoid commercial messaging and adverts,” says Harris. Engagement is also high, with users spending an average of 95 minutes per day on Twitch, according to company data. “We’ve got a platform where they voluntarily lean in and engage. It’s pull content rather than push.”
That interactivity and the potential of the squad mode sets Twitch apart from other social media platforms and streaming services, says McQuivey of Forrester Research. Squad mode is usually used to show multiple gamers playing at once, which allows players to select which streams to view and interact with. Streams included a pre-show discussion between celebrities like Rosalía and Bella Hadid, models getting ready and walking the forest runway, musician Eliza Douglas providing the soundtrack and multiple views of the performance art, produced in collaboration with artist Anne Imhof. Viewers could tune into every aspect of the experience, and each stream had its own comment section.
At the Burberry show, it showed four different streams from different perspectives. “Twitch unlocks an exciting new space where our Burberry community can be digitally transported to feel like they have a virtual seat at our live show. It is an interactive experience where guests can connect with both our brand and each other while personalising their viewing journey,” Rod Manley, chief marketing officer at Burberry, said.
“I think that it’s genius to be the first [luxury brand] to use this medium,” McQuivey says. “Some might say why not just use Facebook Live or YouTube Live, but one of the main reasons is that Twitch has a technological advantage with squad mode.” In addition, he points out, the real-time discussions that occur alongside streams are more about conversation and constructive feedback, less about negative trolling.
Ravensbourne University London showed its graduate fashion collection in July via a virtual fashion showcase on Twitch. The stream had 60000 unique views over three hours, says Lee Lapthorne, Ravensbourne fashion programme director. “There’s no way that exposure would happen at London Fashion Week. I spoke to some high-profile designers who showed digitally last season and they had around 250 views.” Viewers engaged in constructive discussion around the collection and even posed questions to the designers, providing useful feedback to the graduates on their work, Lapthorne continued.
“Whenever there’s something new and creative on Twitch, the community jumps on board,” says Harris. “They have the fear of missing out on never-to-be-repeated experiences, so when they see things like this fashion show on the homepage, they are going to want to be a part of it.”
Twitch influencers and sports brands provide a blueprint
Engagement on the platform has translated into sales for streetwear brands and popular streamers. FaZe Clan, an esports collective-cum-talent management company, launches merch lines with popular streamers. A collection of hoodies and T-shirts with Kristopher Lamberson, a gamer known as Swagg who has 865000 followers on Twitch, sold out in two hours. It retails at USD 15-65. A 2019 collaboration with Champion — a pioneering apparel brand in the gaming space — hit USD 2 million sales in a matter of hours, says FaZe business development manager Taav Cooperman (Champion global head of brand marketing David Robertson says the direct access between fans and streamers is unique). And a merch collaboration between FaZe and rap platform Lyrical Lemonade made USD 750000 in eight minutes and also sold out.
“Twitch is a great way to have the worlds of fashion and gaming collide,” says Lamberson, the gamer. “When a brand wants feedback on something, live streaming would be the best way because you instantly get that kind of feedback whether they like it or not, that’s huge for marketers.”
Sportswear is perhaps an obvious fit for gamers, but luxury is aspirational. The streamers in FaZe Clan wear luxury brands and have the potential to inspire their own fan base. “The dream is to grow up and blow up like our streamers and wear brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton,” says Cooperman.
Burberry’s experimental collaboration with Twitch is one of a number of forays into the gaming sphere by luxury brands. Louis Vuitton released a collection with League of Legends in 2019, while Gucci collaborated with esports team Fnatic in June.
“Streaming is in the experimental stage for fashion brands, and now seems like the opportune time,” says Gartner’s Greene. “[But] luxury brands need to be sure that if they test Twitch, it projects their brand image to the level of aspiration and sophistication their consumers expect… It’s been a bit of a test.”
Here starts the second item:
Webinar on Sustainable fashion: How the fashion industry can act urgently to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
Registration is required to join this event: If you have not registered, please do so now
Date and time: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 10:00 am
Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00)
Change time zone
Wednesday, September 23, 2020 4:00 pm
Europe Summer Time (Paris, GMT+02:00)
Duration: 30 minutes
Description:
The fashion industry accounts for 4 % of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with some estimates suggesting 10 percent, at pre-pandemic levels. COVID-19 has changed demand, but new McKinsey research shows the sector is still likely to produce double the emissions needed to meet climate targets. With growing consumer pressure and innovations that can make sustainability a boon to the bottom line, companies need to rethink their strategies. Join our experts in fashion and sustainability for a special Climate Week edition of McKinsey Live.
Here starts the third item:
Alibaba Unveils New Manufacturing Digital Factory
Cloud intelligence-powered manufacturing levels playing field for SMEs, enabling access to small-batch customization and agility in production
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA and HKEX: 9988, “Alibaba” or “Alibaba Group”) today revealed its New Manufacturing model for the first time with the unveiling of Xunxi Digital Factory (“Xunxi”).
Powered by Alibaba’s cloud computing infrastructure and IoT, the Hangzhou-based factory offers SMEs a digitalized end-to-end manufacturing supply chain that allows for fully-customized, demand-driven production. This gives smaller businesses and manufacturers in particular the ability to benefit from the digitalization of China’s over RMB30 trillion (over USD 4 trillion) manufacturing market1 through being able to respond better and quicker to customers’ changing needs.
“Data is the core of New Manufacturing and harnessing data insights is key to capturing new opportunities in the shift in consumer preference for personalized rather than mass-produced goods. New Manufacturing transforms traditional manufacturers with data-driven intelligence and technology to move towards a more agile model of production based on real-time demand,” said Alain Wu, CEO of Xunxi Digital Technology Company, Alibaba Group. “This allows traditional manufacturers to improve profitability and reduce inventory levels while still being able to meet these personalisation needs.”
The introduction of New Manufacturing is another milestone in the implementation of Alibaba’s “Five New” strategy which was first introduced by founder Jack Ma in 2016, and comprises New Retail, New Manufacturing, New Finance, New Technology and New Energy.
At an early stage, apparel was identified as the starting point for Xunxi – a sector in which the lengthy production cycles and high inventory levels have long been a problem for small and large players alike. Powered by new technologies such as real-time resourcing, process and cost planning, automated in-house logistics and Xunxi’s manufacturing operating system, the factory is able to produce small-batch orders at reasonable costs and with shorter delivery times, consequently increasing manufacturing efficiency from 25 % to an average of 55 %.
Xunxi’s trend and sales forecast model alongside its own artificial intelligence-aided integrated product design platform gives manufacturers insights into consumer preferences. This enhanced information flow can reduce research and development costs and enable businesses to capture the fast-evolving opportunities for consumer personalization.
Apparel has consistently been one of the biggest categories on Alibaba’s retail marketplaces in China, which has given the company an unparalleled advantage in gathering customer insights. In the past, excess inventory has led to a 30 % loss in revenue across the industry. The Xunxi pilot demonstrates Alibaba’s commitment to make it easy to do business anywhere. Leveraging this ‘made-in-cloud’ production, small and medium sized businesses can stay competitive in the fast-moving fashion market.
Since its inception, the factory has collaborated with Taobao and Tmall merchants, livestreaming broadcasters and streetwear designers to explore and experiment with new possibilities of apparel manufacturing.
On September 14, the World Economic Forum (WEF) designated Xunxi Digital Factory a Lighthouse as part of its Global Lighthouse Network, a community of world-leading companies that have succeeded in adopting Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies at scale. The designation recognizes Xunxi’s achievements in combining powerful digital technologies with consumer insight and bringing a fully digitalized New Manufacturing model to life.
The Xunxi showcase comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is catalyzing an acceleration in the digital transformation of different industries. In the future, Xunxi Digital Factory will help apparel customers reduce inventory levels even further, while continuing to increase efficiency as well as the level of customization. As the initiative progresses, the technology will be replicated into other sectors in addition to the current focus of fashion and apparel. Wu added, “We look forward to learning from and partnering with industry peers to build the ecosystem of New Manufacturing together.”
Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company aims to build the future infrastructure of commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live at Alibaba, and that it will be a good company that lasts at least 102 years.
Here the coupled feature to the above article:
China is the World’s Manufacturing Superpower
By guest author Felix Richter from Statistica
While the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak will undoubtedly be most severe in China, the negative effects of the pandemic won’t be confined by the Great Wall. After all, China is the world’s manufacturing hub and the ripple effect of shutdowns across the country is already leading to supply constraints in various industries all around the globe.
According to data published by the United Nations Statistics Division, China accounted for 28 percent of global manufacturing output in 2018. That puts the country more than 10 percentage points ahead of the United States, which used to have the world’s largest manufacturing sector until China overtook it in 2010.
With total value added by the Chinese manufacturing sector amounting to almost $4 trillion in 2018, manufacturing accounted for nearly 30 percent of the country’s total economic output. The U.S. economy is much less reliant on manufacturing these days: in 2018, the manufacturing sector accounted for just 11 percent of GDP in the world’s largest economy.
Infographic: China Is the World’s Manufacturing Superpower | Statista
Here starts the last item:
Companies return to work after an unusual summer—and grapple with an uncertain future
This briefing note was edited by Mark Staples, an Executive editor in the New York office of McKinsey.
What now? Over the past six months, business leaders have reorganized supply chains, set up remote operations, and made tough financial decisions. The world anxiously awaits an effective COVID-19 vaccine that can be readily distributed. Until then, the priority is to reenergize organizations—to act rather than react. Even as the uncertainties of the COVID-19 crisis multiply, the goal must be to rebuild for the longer term. There are many ways to lead, but regardless of the type of business or geography, ten actions can form a path to emerge stronger from the crisis.
We start with an idea—that returning is a muscle that needs to be exercised, not a plan to be executed once or a date to be achieved. We go on to more specific considerations, such as the need to make big moves fast and to be willing to rethink entire portfolios, including where work gets done.
Those are four of the ten actions, and they make for a good starting point. But companies must adjust for the particulars of their industry. Healthcare companies might want to pay strict heed to six trends that are affecting their business. Most were under way before the crisis. But a crisis has a way of bringing things to a head: the coming months might be the best opportunity in memory for healthcare companies to pursue exponential innovation, which could create an additional $400 billion in value by 2025. And now is the time to claim the hundreds of billions of dollars that could be saved through productivity gains.
McKinsey’s healthcare researchers also took a close look at the US blood supply, which was fragile before the pandemic and is now critical. Businesses have a big role to play in the solution. Blood donors frequently cite convenience and social pressure as prompts. Virtual campaigns for blood drives can help blood centers quickly reach large audiences and steer them to the locations most convenient for them.
CFOs have a critical task too: for many, it’s budgeting season. Our new research finds that the financial-planning process for 2021 presents an opportunity to turn hard-earned lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic into an enduring exercise in linking strategy to value. And leaders across organizations need to consider the problems of unresolved grief—another issue that the pandemic has dragged into the spotlight.
Our industry research this week looked at fintech, where the news is not altogether bad, though fintech companies may have to find a detour on the road to profitability. We also considered M&A in pharma, a long-running trend that should continue. Companies are advised to make sure that three capabilities—competitive advantage, capacity, and conviction—are up to snuff before pursuing COVID-19-era mergers.
Finally, the pandemic has forced a reckoning for many between the profit motive and a company’s social purpose. A team of McKinsey editors recaps how we got from there to here, and suggests where we might go next.
As summer turns to fall in the Northern Hemisphere, executives are thinking through the contours of the next normal. Consider our special collection, “The next normal: The recovery will be digital,” featuring a 172-page curated volume that you can download—the first of five edited collections that accompany “Our New Future,” a multimedia series we created with CNBC.
You can also see the full collection of our coronavirus-related content, visual insights from our “chart of the day,” a curated collection of our first 100 coronavirus articles, our suite of tools to help leaders respond to the pandemic, and how our editors choose images that help readers visualize the impact of an invisible threat.
For the full set of our latest perspectives on COVID-19 download full briefing materials.
The Newsletter of last Week
With effort, Indonesia can emerge from the COVID-19 crisis stronger, and brand new Euromonitor Global Economic Forecasts Q3 2020 https://textile-future.com/archives/57975
The highlights of TextileFuture’s News of last week. For your convenience just click on the feature.
Acquisition
BASF acquires proprietary technology for L-glufosinate ammonium from AgriMetis™ https://textile-future.com/archives/58041
MEC to be acquired by Kingswood Capital Management through CCAA Proceeding https://textile-future.com/archives/58084
Agriculture
WTO Agriculture discussions to enter new phase this month https://textile-future.com/archives/58164
Airport Slots
Statement by EU Commissioner Adina Vălean on the Commission’s intention to extend the airport slot waiver https://textile-future.com/archives/58044
Associations
EURATEX stands for a clear and predictable GSP regulation https://textile-future.com/archives/58114
Awards
Devan lauded by Frost & Sullivan for its antimicrobial technology with proven quaternised silane chemistry https://textile-future.com/archives/58116
WTO announces winner of 2020 Essay Award for Young Economists https://textile-future.com/archives/58203
Ban
US apparel groups unite to ban forced labour in Xinjiang https://textile-future.com/archives/58027
Batteries
China’s EV Champion Bets Big on a Different Flavour of Battery https://textile-future.com/archives/58214
Benchmarks
Textile Exchange’s 2020 Corporate Fiber and Materials Benchmark Survey Opens for Suppliers and Manufacturers this Week! https://textile-future.com/archives/58086
Breaking News: Picanol introduces the TerryPlus-I the new benchmark in Terry Weaving https://textile-future.com/archives/58190
China
China’s Economy picks up speed as Shoppers, Moviegoers Return https://textile-future.com/archives/58068
Companies
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be radically pared down due to coronavirus https://textile-future.com/archives/58095
Mall owner Simon Property Group will keep stores closed on Thanksgiving https://textile-future.com/archives/58147
LVMH is unlikely to Score on Rebound From Tiffany https://textile-future.com/archives/58160
Dynamite Announces Globally Celebrated Models Josephine Skriver and Jasmine Tookes As The Muses Behind the Fall and Holiday 2020 Campaigns https://textile-future.com/archives/58228
Sinopec holds First Virtual Open Day Event in Saudi Arabia https://textile-future.com/archives/58255
South Africa – Woolworths new CEO plans to Make Up for Time Lost in Pandemic https://textile-future.com/archives/58278
McKinsey’s latest weekly Charts https://textile-future.com/archives/58281
Cotton
Fashion’s cotton supply caught in crossfire of US-China trade war https://textile-future.com/archives/58131
USDA – Cotton World Markets and Trade September update https://textile-future.com/archives/58288
Data
July 2020 compared with June 2020 EU Industrial production up by 4.1 % in both Euro Area and EU https://textile-future.com/archives/58049
Swiss Producer and Import Price Index fell in August 2020 by 0.4 % https://textile-future.com/archives/58061
U.S. Incomes Up, Poverty Rate Down in 2019 https://textile-future.com/archives/58071
Swiss exports in August 2020 are exceeding since March the first time the milestone of CHF 18 billion https://textile-future.com/archives/58154
3D Electronics
The 3D electronics market is diversifying and is forecast to reach around USD 3 billion by 2030 https://textile-future.com/archives/58029
Direct on textile printing
Ricoh next generation Direct to Garment technology offers productivity breakthrough https://textile-future.com/archives/58121
Stratasys PolyJet used for Direct-to-Textile 3D Printed Clothing https://textile-future.com/archives/58168
3D Printing
Swiss-based JellyPipe Expands B2B 3D Printing Marketplace to UK https://textile-future.com/archives/58263
Events
COVID-19 and Consumer Data Security- Insights from Bitdefender https://textile-future.com/archives/58261
Inside 3D Printing Seoul Takes Place November 18-20, 2020 in a Hybrid Fashion https://textile-future.com/archives/58268
EU
NextGenerationEU: Commission presents next steps for EUR 672.5 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility in 2021 Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy https://textile-future.com/archives/58156
State of the Union: EU commission sets out new ambitious mission to lead on supercomputing https://textile-future.com/archives/58223
State of the Union: EU Commission calls on Member States to boost fast network connectivity and develop joint approach to 5G rollout https://textile-future.com/archives/58226
Events
Exhibitors Texworld Evolution Paris trade fairs are boarding the digital platform of Messe Frankfurt France https://textile-future.com/archives/58180
Exhibitions
A digital-physical combine will help trade shows survive the pandemic https://textile-future.com/archives/58109
India
India’s Richest Man wants You—to Invest in Retailhttps://textile-future.com/archives/58124
Personalisation
Miinto uses RichRelevance Personalisation to drive 47 % growth for Lockdown affected Independent Boutiques https://textile-future.com/archives/58079
Personalities
WTO members narrow field of Director General candidates https://textile-future.com/archives/58211
Research
Research: the impact of the pandemic on the Swiss retail trade https://textile-future.com/archives/58073
Retailing
J.Jill avoids Bankruptcy as Out-of-Court Restructuring Plan Gets Lenders’ Consent https://textile-future.com/archives/58104
H&M Surprises with Stronger-Than-Expected Return to Profit https://textile-future.com/archives/58144
Sportswear
Craft presents: Finding Flagstaff – A Journey to the hidden heart of running https://textile-future.com/archives/58206
Success Story
Acafintex looks to a bright future with new Monforts technology https://textile-future.com/archives/58033
Sustainability
Walmart helping Suppliers to adopt Renewable Energy https://textile-future.com/archives/58099
Confidence for Every Body – KappAhl celebrates the woman and the everyday https://textile-future.com/archives/58128
Webinars
Coresight Webinars (September 22 – 24, 2020) https://textile-future.com/archives/58274
WTO
WTO issues report on measures to expedite access to COVID-19 critical goods, services https://textile-future.com/archives/58158 WTO launches Goods Schedules e-Library https://textile-future.com/archives/58201