According to Fitch Ratings, Asian factories continued to shake off the coronavirus gloom in August as more bright signs in China raised hopes of a firmer recovery in global demand, reducing pressure on policymakers to take bolder steps to avert a deeper recession.

Manufacturing activity in China expanded at the fastest clip in nearly a decade in August, as factories ramped up output to meet rebounding demand, a private survey showed. New export orders rose for the first time this year.

The upbeat findings contrasted with an official survey on Monday, which showed China's factory activity grew at a slightly slower pace in August. But fears of a resurgence in infections in some economies may discourage firms from boosting capital expenditure and delay a sustained rebound for the Asian region, some analysts say.

China's Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index(PMI) rose to 53.1 in August from July's 52.8, marking the biggest rate of expansion since January 2011.

Japan and South Korea both saw factory output contract at the slowest pace in six months in August, T expectations the region's export powerhouses have past their worst from a collapse in demand after COVID-19 struck.

The spill-over to other parts of Asia, however, remains patchy. While manufacturing activity rose in Taiwan and Indonesia, they slid in the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Wolford has inked an agreement with Adidas to collaborate on a series of new seamless performance garments with the emphasis on all-day wearability. This debut collaboration will be launched on November 2.

Inspired by 80s & 90s sportswear, the collab’ will feature luxury sheer and opaque knits that hug the body to create a feminine silhouette with comfort and support.

Wolford’s collaboration with German global sportswear giant will include two capsule collections, Studio Motion and Sheer Motion, “both featuring sleek and supportive performance pieces crafted with opaque and sheer knitting techniques to cover and highlight the body,” the Austrian skin-wear and hosiery marque said in a release.

The project also marks the emergence of Josefine Aberg, Adidas VP of Design, with particular focus on apparel.

Adidas is the first sportswear company to partner with Wolford, noted for its mastery of knitting capabilities and yarn. The goal being to combine Adidas’ expertise in athletic performance and technical fabrics with Wolford’s premium knit products.

The collection will feature two drops of completely seamless garments including three coordinated long sleeve top and legging sets and two body-suit looks, all offering full coverage and a second skin feel. All looks are designed to be worn during workouts and layered throughout the day, providing an easy transition from the studio to the professional day.

Swiss retail technology company meepl, a ‘3D smartphone body scanning clothes shopping companion’, has partnered with Stoll the leading flat knitting machine manufacturer, to offer bespoke made-to-measure knitwear for the fashion industry on a global scale.

Coupling meepl’s 3D body scanning app with Stoll’s knit and wear innovative technology will provide a customer-centric solution to the historical issues surrounding customised clothing production. It will allow knitwear to be customised on an automated and scalable level, using meepl’s highly accurate measurements fed straight into the knitelligence software controlling Stoll’s machines.

The knitwear industry has previously struggled with inefficiencies with made-to-measure sizing, relying on manual methods of measuring and human input, which is prone to error, meeple says. According to the company, meepl’s smartphone-enabled 3D body scanning technology uses body reconstruction algorithms to produce an almost 100% accurate body image from just two pictures, instantly obtaining up to 100 measurements of the body.

With meepl’s easy-to-use and accurate body scanning technology the consumer’s personal body measurements can easily be connected to our knitelligence platform. The platform automatically adjusts the knitting pattern based on the body measurements being provided making it possible to knit tailored garments in a very short time without any manual intervention. For the first time ever, this combination of technologies makes it possible to offer mass customisation for everyone from the convenience of their homes.

Several luxury market analysts estimated the percentage of Chinese consumers making global luxury purchases to jump from 40 to 50 per cent over the next 10 years. However, over the past few months, many Chinese consumers have begun to buy domestically due to significant travel disruptions. Many global luxury brands are yet to find success in China and have posted poor sales performances, wasted cash, and couldn’t connect with Chinese customers.

Many are lost when trying to plan for success in China, particularly smaller brands. China currently has the youngest, most digitally –savvy and most discerning luxury market in the world. Since the country’s consumers trust KOLs more than brands, they follow their advice. So if their KOL’s don’t promote a particular brand, Chinese consumers won’t consider buying from it. Most Western brands fail in the market sooner or later

These brands need to think more holistically by seamlessly combining their strategy, positioning, and story across all digital and physical brand experiences and through the most relevant products. Too many companies ignore local preferences, customs, materials, and shopping traditions.

Cambodian trade unions have agreed that textile, garment and footwear factory workers should receive a 6.1 per cent raise in monthly wage in 2021. The proposed figure will be negotiated at a meeting of the National Council on Minimum Wage at the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training on Thursday. The meeting will be attended by representatives of trade unions, garment factory and the labor ministry.

Cambodian Labor Confederation president Ath Thorn said the figure was based on three main factors – a two per cent increase to account for annual inflation, two per cent for factory productivity and 1.3 per cent for margins of profit of employers. Adding that employers have raised concerns about a wage raise considering the disastrous effects of COVID-19 has had on factories.

Kaing Monika, Deputy Secretary-General, Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said the association is still analyzing data. He said each wage raise demand is generally based on the current situation. Given the pandemic, he said it is highly likely that workers will face a wage decrease rather than a raise.

Timberland, the footwear and apparel brand owned by VF Corp aims to offset its carbon footprint by 2030 by establishing a supply chain with a ‘net positive’ impact on the planet. The brand will adopt a two-pronged approach that will affect both ends of the pipeline. It will source all natural fabrics and materials from suppliers whose business is based on regenerative agriculture, while also forging ahead with a circular design approach.

Following last year’s pilot partnership with Other Half Processing to build a responsible leather supply chain, Timberland has now pledged to turn regenerative agriculture into new normal by 2030 by extending the practice to sourcing of other materials, including rubber, cotton, wool and sugar cane.

Regeneratively grazed cattle and regenerative crops allow rest and regrowth of grasses, leading to better food for livestock and healthier and more fertile soil that in turn reduces carbon emissions.

Timberland expects to source 30 per cent of its leather from regenerative sources by 2025. On the circular design front, the brand will improve the quota of recycled materials it uses, including PET bottles and pre-consumer wool or leather scraps. It will also approach design such that each apparel, footwear and accessory item is recyclable, avoiding products are destined to the landfill.

Shima Seiki has launched yarnbank, a yarn sourcing web service. Developed in cooperation with yarn companies from around the world, the service provides registered users free access to the yarnbank archive of yarn information and digital yarn data. Users can also download yarn data free, for use in fabric simulation and virtual sampling on Shima’s SDS ONE APEX4 design system as well as APEXFiz subscription-based design software, which was also announced last month.

By using yarn available for actual production, users are assured the simulations created using yarnbank are not merely realistic images but accurate representations with yarns that can actually be purchased and used in production. Such clear communication is possible with yarnbank by bringing together each player in the supply chain—spinner, knit manufacturer and apparel company—and connecting them digitally to eliminate trial-and-error sample making that is the legacy of obsolete analogue fashion production.

Registration on the website is free to APEX users, while yarn companies can choose from different plans for registering their yarn on yarnbank. For yarn companies, yarnbank serves as a brand-new promotional platform with the opportunity to present their yarns directly to their customers. In that respect, yarn companies can reduce their dependence on traditional sample books as a means to promote their products, saving time, cost and material and doing their part for sustainability.

Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports recorded a 44.63 per cent year-on-year growth in August after seven months of negative trend. The country’s export earnings from RMG stood at $3.24 billion from $2.24 billion in the same period of August in 2019, according to National Board of Revenue data compiled by BGMEA.

Rubana Huq, President, BGMEA said, while cotton trousers had maintained the biggest share in terms of increase, man-made fiber-based product categories in tops had also started witnessing a growth. Especially women’s/ girls’ cotton trousers have seen significant growth and their share in our total export is also higher. Huq also said a six-month average would be a better depiction of the export growth situation instead of year-on-year-based monthly figures. Bangladesh’s export earnings from readymade garment witnessed a negative growth for seven month in a row from January to July this year.

The export earnings witnessed a 54.79-per cent decline in the March-May period of 2020 over that of the corresponding period of last year as the coronavirus pandemic hit the sales of manufacturing goods and the global buyers cancelled or suspended import orders.

The country’s export earnings started increasing from June this year although the RMG export declined by 18.84 per cent to $27.70 billion in the fiscal year 2019-20 from $34.13 billion in the FY 2018-19 due to the adverse impact of the coronavirus outbreak globally.

With the reviving of export orders by the global buyers, Bangladesh’s exports in July this year fetched $3.91 billion, the highest-ever earnings in a single month in the country’s history.

Oeko Tex has the increased the number of certifications and labels issued by 13 per cent from 21,454 on July 1, 2019 to 24,205 on June 30, 2020. Its focus was largely on the ‘Made in Green’ label, whose demand grew 115 per cent from 1,304 to the current 2,808 valid labels in the financial year 2019/2020.

Issuance of other Oeko-Tex labels, such as Standard 100 and Leather Standard by Oeko-Tex also continued to grow year on year. Newly issued certificates STeP by Oeko-Tex increased 55 per cent to 475 valid certificates worldwide. Detox to Zero was added as mandatory requirement for STeP facilities to support customers optimizing and monitoring their chemical management and wastewater quality. It helps the textile and leather supply chain to avoid use of toxic chemicals and prevent water pollution, which benefits both people and environment.

In addition, STeP became a part of ITC Sustainability Maps, a platform that enables users to better understand the sustainability landscape and to connect with business partners.

According to Georg Dieners, Secretary General, the industry needs to work together to change existing consumption and production patterns to keep the planet’s resources intact and ensure a life for future generations. The organization has made every effort to continue with certification and avoid supply chain interruptions It processed existing certificate renewals without samples to give certificate owners three additional months to gather samples for testing. To provide people all over the world with mouth and nose masks, the Oeko-Tex Association waived the license fee for certification of masks. It also gave Standard 100 certification to over 50 face masks manufacturers between April and June.

Mimaki Europe, a leading manufacturer of inkjet printers and cutting systems, has appointed Takahiro Hiraki its new Managing Director. Hiraki joined Mimaki Engineering in 1997 as a sales representative for the Mimaki CF-series. Over the next 20 years, he held various sales positions in the company.

In 2019, Hiraki joined the board of directors and was assigned management responsibility for Mimaki Europe. His appointment as Managing Director of the region this year reflects his commitment to the organization and enthusiasm for this diverse, innovative, and successful part of the Mimaki business.

Mimaki Europe also appointed Ryosuke Nakayama as the new Executive Assistant to Hiraki. Nakayama joined Mimaki Engineering in 2012 and during his 8 years at the company, has excelled in marketing, sales, and product management roles worldwide. Nakayama’s extensive experience, expertise and diverse skillset will be substantial assets to the Mimaki Europe management team.