One of the top X posts this week came from Representative Ilhan Omar, who represents Minnesota's fifth Congressional District in the US House of Representatives. Omar stood in solidarity with the garment workers protesting for better treatment and wages in Bangladesh.

Although Bangladesh's State Minister for Labour Monnujan Sufian announced Tk12,500 ($112.8) as the new minimum monthly salary for garment workers this week (8 November), the demonstrations taking place to increase wages have continued on the streets of Dhaka as the newly announced minimum monthly wage is still below what the workers’ representative on the wage board, Sirajul Islam Rony, had proposed in the previous meeting.

Italian retail brand Diesel announced its new watches would be launching as part of its Metaverse Metamorph project, connecting consumers with a seamless blend of physical and digital experiences.

By purchasing a Diesel watch and scanning a QR code, consumers can onboard the digital user experience. The watch ownership comes with the promise of unlocking future experiences, hinting at a world where NFTs become keys to new possibilities.

It is this very idea of offering something more than just a watch, as Kadine James, chief metaverse officer AI Web3 and AI Creative Director at Virtual XR studio Artificial Rome notes, “it opens up more opportunities for brands like Diesel to use blockchain, using NFTs and immersive worlds to connect with the consumer base.”

In another X post, subscription-based site Brands on the Block that tracks what brands are doing in Web3 and beyond, described Swedish retailer H&M's latest experiments with AI for on-demand printing courtesy of its Creator Studio.

H&M described its Creator Studio offering as being able to give merchandise fashion brands “unrestricted access to its global supply chain” using AI. This ranges from product development to fulfilment and logistics.

It enables anyone who wants to create custom merchandise to design and print it on over 70 garments that can be tailor-made for print-on-demand.

Environmental NGO WRAP released its Textiles 2030 Annual Progress Report and found the apparel brands signed up to its voluntary scheme Textiles 2030 had reduced the carbon impact of the textiles they produce by 12% while reducing water use per tonne of product by 4% between 2019 and 2022.

WRAP warns that steps towards sustainable production are being wiped out by “spiralling” production levels. Higher production rates meant that overall water use by the apparel brands in the scheme has increased by 8% since 2019 – up to 3.1bn m³ in total.

WRAP’s director of behaviour change Catherine David said: “Production is clearly the key issue and the onus is on businesses to make preloved part of their portfolio, so it’s accessible, easy and fun. Through Textiles 2030, many brands and retailers are already taking action, but there is a long way to go, and many more businesses need to join us on this journey.”

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