Dear readers

First off， let us， all the staff working for China Textile magazine， express our congratulations on the successful ITMF Conference 2020 held in Seoul during Oct. 20-22， and on Mr. Sun Ruizhe， who was elected president of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation （ITMF） on the 22nd of October.

ITMF Annual Conference 2020 is special and virtual amid the corona-pandemic still running wild across the world， the online conference seasoned with subject webinars is spotlighted in the leitmotif of “the Corona-Pandemic： Re-shaping the Global Supply Chain”. ITMF members can have access to all the meeting details and speeches at different sessions， covering a broad spectrum of subjects that are of great interest to you， like “Beyond the linear economy： accelerating the innovation to scale circularity”， ”In the wake of COVID-19： Impact on the fiber world and sustainability debate”， “Polyester industry： weathering the storm” in Fiber Session （Man-made fiber）， and “Emergence of Indian cotton and textiles as a major global supplier post-COVID-19 era”， “Egyptian Cotton： Adapting the challenges raised by the global pandemic”， “Meeting the needs of textile manufactures： innovation and sustainability for cotton in the world supply chain” in Fiber Session （Cotton）. And in Sustainability&Circular Economy Session， we can see impressive ideas and views of fashion on climate and on how to make fashion circular etc.， just to name a few.

Mr. Sun Ruizhe， newly-elected president of ITMF， who is also president of China National Textile and Apparel Council， is the man at the wheel to steer this international organization to a new horizon in the next two year tenure. It is pretty interesting to notice his inaugural address to the attendees with some key points he put forward in a polite turn of phrase as “recommendations for future work” in his office term of presidency， one of which is to set up the annual awards at international level to encourage the contribution of innovation to the economic growth in the world textile industry， a new milestone in the course of ITMFs 116-yea-old history to promote the innovations of international recognition in the global textile supply chain from fiber to fashion.

The theme of this global meeting is focused significantly on “reshaping” the global supply chain， and my understanding is that if you want to keep textile health in good shape， you need to renovate the old to carve for the new， simply， you have to remodel it into a new shape. An object will remain in its current state of motion at constant velocity unless a force， lets say， the net force， is applied to it to accelerate it as per Newtons First Law of motion. Innovation or creativity is a force that is much sought after and acted upon our business motion to keep it growing at a speed more quickly than anticipated. If not， you stay where you are or plod on the same old trail that might lead to a mossy land， and even to the swamp of despair while the creative companies are running on the highland of hope in good shape， driven by innovative impetus.

China is placed No.1 in plural sectors of the whole textile industry that processes fibers for as many as 54.6 million tons in mill consumptions， keeping an abundant supply of feedstuffs for innovative products all the way down the industrial chain， making China the biggest， and probably the strongest country in textile manufacturing， thanks to the innovative contributors in kind， and in wisdoms as well. Nevertheless， it is the innovative and creative force that should be applied to the global textile growth over its present state of motion. Together， we move on.

ZHAO Hong Editor-in-Chief

October， 2020