Fashion
Indian textile industry hails GST reforms, urges review of ₹2,500 slab
Sanjay K Jain, chairman of ICC’s National Textiles Committee, highlighted the broader implications: “The long-standing demand for removal of the inverted duty structure in MMF yarn and fabric has been met—bringing the entire chain under 5 per cent GST, in line with cotton. However, garments priced above ₹2,500 will become around 6 per cent costlier. The use of manmade textiles is expected to rise as a result.”
India’s textile and retail sector has welcomed the GST rationalisation, with industry bodies lauding removal of inverted duty and alignment of MMF with cotton at 5 per cent.
CMAI, RAI and NITMA hailed the move as transformative, though concerns remain over garments and footwear above ₹2,500 being placed in the 18 per cent slab.
Stakeholders urged the Council to adopt a uniform 5 per cent rate.
The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) said the changes address two major demands—removal of inverted duty and equalisation of cotton and MMF chains at 5 per cent. “The increase of the 5 per cent limit from ₹1,000 to ₹2,500 is also an extremely positive move,” CMAI said, while urging the Council to reconsider taxing garments above this level at 18 per cent. “Garments above the price of ₹2,500 are also consumed in large numbers by the common man and middle class, especially woollen clothing, occasion wear, Indian traditional clothing and handlooms,” it added.
Suditi Industries Ltd, owner of kidswear brand Gini & Jony, said the revisions provide dual growth drivers—stronger consumption and improved margins. Commenting on the company’s expansion, Harsh Agarwal, CEO of Gini & Jony, said: “This is a pivotal time for Suditi. With the integration of Gini & Jony, we are no longer just a textile manufacturer—we are transforming into a consumer-facing retail powerhouse. The upcoming GST reforms and strengthening domestic consumption create a strong runway for growth.”
The Retailers Association of India (RAI) termed the move to a two-slab framework “a vital step towards simpler and fairer taxation” but warned against flaws in price-based thresholds. RAI said: “Such slabs create distortions, promote grey market activity, harm organised retail and discourage domestic manufacturing. All garments and footwear should ideally be taxed at 5 per cent, or at the very least, a more reasonable price threshold should be established.”
For the Northern India Textile Mills Association (NITMA), the decision marks a “transformative milestone” for India’s MMF sector. NITMA president, Sidharth Khanna, said: “We are pleased to share that the long-standing issue of the inverted duty structure in GST for MMF textiles has been successfully addressed. These changes will significantly lower costs across the MMF and technical textiles value chain, enhancing efficiency and export competitiveness.”
Raghunath Mannil Balakrishnan, chief executive officer at Mafatlal Industries Limited, opined, “The 56th GST Council reforms bring both opportunities and challenges for the textile and apparel sector. While the increase of GST on coal from 5 per cent to 18 per cent will push up fabric processing costs, the reduction of GST on yarn from 12 per cent to 5 per cent should partially balance this out. As a result, fabric prices overall may not see a significant change. What is particularly encouraging is the reduction of GST on garments priced below ₹2,500 from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. This is a consumer-friendly move that will make mid-market apparel more affordable, stimulate demand, and strengthen growth in this critical segment. For an industry that is both price-sensitive and volume-driven, such measures can provide the much-needed impetus for growth. At Mafatlal, we see this as a positive step that can support industry volumes while ensuring affordability for a wider base of consumers.”
The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) also hailed the GST rationalisation as a long-pending demand fulfilled, calling it a breakthrough for the MMF textile value chain. Dr. S K Sundararaman, chairman, SIMA, said: “This bold and historic reform slots the entire MMF chain at 5 per cent, addressing raw material structural issues that had made the poor man’s clothing more expensive.”
He noted that global MMF accounts for 70 per cent of fibre consumption but only 30 per cent in India, largely due to earlier tax distortions. He added: “The government has set a vision to grow textiles from $172 billion to $350 billion and exports from $37 billion to $100 billion. Polyester will be the main growth engine to achieve this vision.”
Dr. Sundararaman also appreciated the establishment of fibre neutrality and the introduction of 90 per cent provisional refunds for raw material duties, saying these measures would “boost domestic consumption by 7–10 per cent in the near term and help India withstand abnormal tariffs imposed by the US.”
The Indian textile industry has collectively thanked the government for addressing long-standing demands, while pressing for further rationalisation to ensure all garments and footwear are taxed at a uniform rate.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)
“The Skechers Performance retail era is in full force: from our first flagship store earlier this year in Canada to two new locations in Europe this spring and our recently opened destination in Chile, all have shown how enthusiastic our consumers are for our Comfort that Performs,” said Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers. “At our largest factory mall location, Skechers’ World of Sports showcases all that’s revolutionary about our one-of-a-kind technologies for the 36 million annually who frequent one of the highest-traffic tourist malls in the country. Like every professional athlete and enthusiast who has stepped into our styles, we’re all in and are ready to change the game.”
Skechers has opened its largest factory mall store at Dolphin Mall, Miami, spanning 26,017 square feet.
The immersive Skechers World of Sports features racetracks, courts, and digital displays, offering performance and lifestyle footwear, apparel, and accessories.
The August 29 launch, attended by athlete Julius Randle, highlights Skechers’ global expansion of its performance retail concept.
Minnesota Timberwolves power forward and Skechers athlete Julius Randle joined shoppers in celebrating the August 29 grand opening of the store, which unveiled the brand’s many displays: a running racetrack, basketball and pickleball courts, golf green and soccer and sport adventure areas, all surrounded by state-of-the-art digital LED screens and supported by product specialists and educators. The store also features selfie areas localized with Miami-centric graphics.
Consumers can shop the Company’s specialized technical footwear, as well as key lifestyle product, work footwear and Skechers apparel and accessories. The offering includes the Company’s many signature innovations, such as Skechers Hands Free Slip-ins Technology, Skechers Glide-Step Technology, Skechers Hyper Burst Pro Technology, Skechers Performance FitKnit Technology, Skechers Arch Fit Technology, Skechers Max Cushioning Technology and Skechers Air-Cooled Memory Foam Technology.
Along with Randle, Skechers’ global roster of elite pros competing in Skechers footwear includes basketball stars Joel Embiid, OG Anunoby, Norman Powell, Terance Mann, Rickea Jackson, Jackie Young and Kiki Iriafen; golfers Matt Fitzpatrick, Brooke Henderson, Bernhard Langer and Max Greyserman; pickleball pros Tyson McGuffin and Catherine Parenteau; baseball players Clayton Kershaw and Aaron Nola; soccer players Harry Kane, Mohammed Kudus, Luis Sinisterra, Baris Alper Yilmaz, Matt O’Riley, Isco Alarcón, Anthony Elanga, and Leila Ouahabi; and Indian Premier League cricket stars Jasprit Bumrah, Ishan Kishan and Yastika Bhatia, among others.
Consumers can now shop at five Skechers Performance-focused stores on three continents, including locations in Edmonton, Canada; Ghent, Belgium; Berlin, Germany; and Santiago, Chile—as well as at approximately 5,300 Skechers retail stores, skechers.com, and department stores and footwear retailers around the world.
Note: The headline, insights, and image of this press release may have been refined by the Fibre2Fashion staff; the rest of the content remains unchanged.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RM)
Published
September 8, 2025
AW25 campaigns have been coming thick and fast with high-end brands in the forefront and many of them are forging strong links between the themes of their catwalk shows and the campaigns. Stella McCartney is also unveiling a new streaming shopping initiative as part of hers.
The campaign itself is called ‘Laptop to Lapdance’ featuring Eva Mendes, capturing day-to-night house codes. Presented first during Paris Fashion Week, it’s a “wardrobe for the working woman – celebrating her at all stages of her life”.
The campaign is set in StellaCorp, an “imagined material innovation company pioneering the next generation of cruelty-free alternatives”.
Mendes will feature in both the campaign and the aforementioned immersive, interactive digital shopping session titled ‘Shop With Stella: Winter 2025’ – available to stream via the brand’s website from 15 September. This is “the first in a new series for the British designer. Once again pioneering a way forward, it introduces an innovative experience for global audiences to engage and shop”.
Back with the campaign, other talents featured include Natalia Vodianova, Amelia Gray, Karolina Spakowski, Haojie Qi, Song Ah Woo, Angelina Kendall, Yilan Hua, Agel Akol, Caitlin Soetendal, Claire Marie, Victoria Fawole and Hanna Leszek (all of whom walked the Winter 2025 fashion show in March).
For Burberry, the new season is all about the fabrics and grand interiors that inspired Daniel Lee’s collection for the Burberry Winter 2025 show. “We wanted to bring the collection to life and to tell the story behind all those incredible textiles,” Lee said.
Shot by Sam Rock in the drawing rooms and grounds of Thomas Ripley’s Palladian masterpiece, Wolterton Hall, the images recall the inspiration behind the show.
The campaign includes British actor Rupert Everett, model and artist Jeny Howorth, and Luther Ford, known for his portrayal of Prince Harry in ‘The Crown’. They appear alongside models Lina Zhang, Assa Baradji, Tristan Watkins, Leon Keenan and Iris Lasnet (who made her runway debut in the show).
And in line with Burberry’s new focus, outerwear has a starring role with raincoats, quilted jackets, a car coat, and lots of knitwear that reference historic tapestries.
For Dsquared2, the new campaign is a “wild night out”. The label’s offering up “a bare leg stepping from a black limousine. A stolen kiss on the dance floor. A blur of red neon lights in a graffitied bathroom. A flash of crystals and denim”.
Directed by Mert & Marcus with creative direction by Dean and Dan Caten in partnership with long-time collaborator Giovanni Bianco, the new “extends the epic scale and nightlife narrative of the runway show. Celebrating 30 iconic years of Dsquared2’s one-of-a-kind vision, the show imagined a convergence of the personalities and provocateurs who populate the Dsquared2 archive, brought to life by both longtime muses and fierce new faces”.
The imagery picks up on this thread with a “starkly stylish visual direction”. The direct, black-and-white photographic perspective “finds moments of connection and celebration amid the ecstatic chaos of an all-night rager”.
Irina Shayk, Alex Consani, and Victor Perez lead an eclectic cast of “style mavericks who aren’t afraid to get sweaty in their nice clothes. The whirlwind energy of this unforgettable night radiates in many directions, but it all comes back to Dsquared2: the name that says it all”.
As for Valentino, Alessandro Michele has revisited the topics of the AW25 show, ‘Le Méta Théâtre Des Intimités’, to continue questioning the close relationship between identity and robing practices”.
Shot by Glen Luchford, Michele said: “Here comes the public bathroom again: a counter-place where private and relational dimension mingle, where the visible challenges the invisible, where decency collides with guilty pleasure and exposure flirts with occultation. It’s a liminal space that, in this campaign, becomes enriched with new bodies, gazes and encounters, becoming an unfailing scene of possibilities.
“It was like imagining a life after the show: how many other existences could that uncanny and choral space host? How many other unspoken desires could take shape there? And which different intimacies would be reflected in its corridors?”
Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
Skechers opens largest factory mall store at Miami’s Dolphin Mall
South Korea wants workers detained in immigration raid to be able to re-enter US
Sensex Settles 76 Points Higher, Nifty Above 24,750; Tata Motors, M&M Jump 4% Each
-
Tech1 week agoLatam-GPT: The Free, Open Source, and Collaborative AI of Latin America
-
Tech6 days agoThe 50 Best Shows on HBO Max Right Now
-
Tech1 week agoThe Best Labor Day Mattress Sales on Our Favorite Models
-
Fashion1 week agoIndian exporters look to expand in Africa to dodge 50% US tariff
-
Tech1 week agoShould I Take Magnesium Supplements? Everything You Need to Know
-
Tech3 days agoNew non-volatile memory platform built with covalent organic frameworks
-
Tech1 week agoThese Newly Discovered Cells Breathe in Two Ways
-
Tech6 days agoJoin Us for WIRED’s “Uncanny Valley” Live