Apparel brand Max Fashions has opened a new outlet at Lippo Mall Puri in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The store offers a wide range of apparel collections —be it for men, women, and children— starting from basic dailywear to the trending fashion items. Socks, lingeries, as well as other fashion accessories

The Lippo Mall Puri outlet is also Max Fashions' eleventh store in the archipelago. The brand also already has 600 stores spread across the globe, including in Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and India. It offers more than 2,000 styles with a price under Rp 149,000 ($10.26).

The new store offers up to 25 percent discounts on all items. Shoppers can also get a glass teapot set as a gift for a minimum purchase of Rp 599,000. While shoppers with purchases of more than Rp 1.75 million will get an exclusive ceramic teapot set.

British multinational retailer Marks and Spencer Group plc, has appointed Fiona Dawson, Global President, Mars Food as its new Non-Executive Director from May 25, 2021. Dawson, who is part of the Mars, Incorporated Leadership Team, will join the Nominations Committee at the same time as joining the board.

Dawson started her career with Mars as a Graduate Trainee before rising to the top roles in the company. Her leadership roles include President of Global Retail and Mars Chocolate UK and European Marketing Vice President. She also has a strong track record in sustainability, health and wellbeing, particularly women’s entrepreneurship and human rights.

Archie Norman, Chairman, M&S says, Dawson’s focus on combining societal change with performance maker her perfect choice for M&S. She is known for turning around businesses, building and operating factories. She is a former president of the IGD, and knows the UK and global food retail industry better than anyone.

Dawson's appointment follows on from the arrival as a non-executive director of Evelyn Bourke former CEO of BUPA earlier this year.

To be held in HCM City from April 26-27, the Vietnam-Taiwan Textile and Garment Industry Exhibition will showcase garment products from Vietnam and Taiwan.

As per Vietnam Plus, the event will be co-organized by the Taiwan Textile Federation and the Vietnam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company (Vinexad) under both direct meeting and online meeting platforms, aims to strengthen cooperation between Vietnamese and Taiwanese enterprises in the textile and garment sector.

There will be 16 Taiwanese textile manufacturers participating in the event via Zoom, exchange experiences with and introducing products to Vietnamese enterprises with interpretation support.

Taiwanese enterprises have constantly researched and improved techniques to produce fabric types using dyeing technique treatments that can save energy, water and reduce the influence on the environment. They have also applied innovative technologies in production to produced fabrics with many outstanding features such as being antibacterial and using environmentally friendly materials from oyster shells and recycled plastic.

In 2020, Taiwan 's largest textile and garment export market was Vietnam, with an export turnover of up to 1.9 billion USD and accounting for 25.3 percent of the country’s total export turnover of textiles and garments. The top five export markets, including Vietnam, mainland China, the United States, Indonesia and Hong Kong, account for 60.3 percent of Taiwan’s total apparel exports.

Taiwan's largest and second-largest sources of textile in 2020 were mainland China and Vietnam, accounting for 43 percent and 14 percent of total textile imports and valued at 1.46 billion USD and 467 million USD, respectively. The main import items from mainland China and Vietnam were clothing and accessories.

Leading sportswear brand Vans has set new sustainability targets including making core materials 100 per cent regenerative, responsibly sourced, renewable or recycled by 2030.

As per Apparel Resources, its targets also include aiding the United Nations in achieving the organization’s SDG 12 (Sustainable Development Goal) to ensure responsible consumption and production patterns.

To achieve these targets by 2030, Vans aims to ensure that 100 per cent of its top materials, including rubber, cotton, leather and polyester, are regenerative, responsibly sourced, renewable or recycled.

The company will commit to a 43 per cent carbon reduction by reducing the average impact of its top materials by 35 per cent by 2025, utilizing 50 per cent of recycled polyester by 2025 and sourcing 100 per cent sustainably grown cotton by 2025.

The company will convert all owned and operated facilities to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025.

The US division of the Trident Group, Trident Global Inc. has added two new members to its US design team.

Home Textiles Today reports, Megan Baxter has joined the group as Vice President, Bedding Design. She has over 10 years of experience at Target, most recently as the design lead in the home area. Prior to it, she was a trend manager at Lowe’s Corporation. She will remain based in Minneapolis and collaborate closely with a team of designers in India.

The second member to join the Trident Group is Andrea Mata who has joined as a designer in the bath, beach and kitchen categories. She was most recently a designer at Creative Home Industries, after spending four years in the design department at CHF. She will be based in NYC and report to Carla Grosso, VP of bath design.

The Trident Group has also announced a $300 million expansion plan, to be executed in the next few years.

Revenues at the ultra-luxury French company, Hermes surged by 44 per cent in the first quarter at constant exchange rates and 38 per cent at current exchange rates. As per Fashion Network, the company’s revenues almost doubled during the quarter to 33 per cent.

Its revenues at constant exchange rates rose to €2.08 billion, smashing analysts’ predictions that they would be up ‘only’ 24 per cent.

Sales through the company’s own shops rose by 51 per cent year-on-year and 41 per cent on a two-year basis. That said, wholesale was weaker with a 2 per cent fall as travel retail suffered.

Asia was key as sales on the continent (with Japan excluded) increased by 94 per cent with China emerging a star performer. But Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Australia also saw buoyant business. Meanwhile, sales in Japan rose 20 per cent, despite new COVID measures.

Sales in the US grew by 23 per cent, helping to counter the negative impact in Europe of a new wave of COVID and new lockdowns. Europe revenues were down 1 per cent and France alone was down 9 per cent. It was hurt in particular by store closures in several countries, especially in the UK, Germany and Switzerland.

But its problems in Europe were partially offset by particular strength online. E-sales doubled or more in all regions. The company told reporters that web sales should be more than €1 billion quite soon.

French luxury goods group LVMH plans increase its stake in fashion company Tod’s to 10 per cent.

As per Fashion Network, LVMH plans to buy a 6.8 per cent stake from Tod’s founder and Chairman Diego Della Valle. The Italian luxury leather goods maker has performed worse than most rivals as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Its January sales had fallen by almost a third last year, marking the fifth year in a row of falling annual sales.

The group, known for its loafer shoes, launched a new strategy in late 2017 to revamp its brand and lure younger consumers, but the health crisis has hampered its efforts. Earlier this month, Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni joined its board, in a move that pushed its shares sharply higher and was seen as a bid to rejuvenate its image.

There has been recurring market speculation that Tod’s could be the target of a takeover by a bigger group, although Della Valle, who has increased his stake in the company in the past couple of years, has repeatedly denied this possibility.

China Cotton Association (CCA) has issued a set of production standards for China's cotton industry to fill up any gaps and promote the image of Chinese cotton.

Through these standards, the association aims to create Chinese cotton products of fine quality by Chinese brands, allowing more people to better understand Chinese cotton, according to media reports.

Through the new standards, the association is also helping growers to further improve production methods, ensure the supply of high-quality cotton and safeguard the rights and interests of workers.

Data provided by the China Cotton Industry Alliance show that cotton produced in Xinjiang in 2020 accounted for 20.8 percent of global output while China's raw cotton consumption reached 7.99 million tons the same year.

Global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear, and accessories, VF Corporation has appointed Matt Puckett as its new Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He will serve on the company’s Executive Leadership Team and report to CEO, Steve Rendle. He has completed 20 years with company. He joined in 2001 as a Senior Accountant in the finance organization. In the following years, Puckett held a series of finance roles including being appointed in 2009 as CFO of VF’s Sportswear Coalition, which comprised the Nautica® and Kipling® brands.

After VF’s 2011 acquisition of the Timberland® brand, Puckett was appointed CFO of Timberland® and helped guide the brand’s successful integration into VF. In 2015, he was named CFO of VF International in Stabio, Switzerland, where he was responsible for all aspects of financial management for VF’s business across the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions. Puckett returned to the US in 2019 and has been serving as VF’s Vice President, Global Financial Planning & Analysis.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) plans to question Levi Strauss & Co (LS&Co) for its use of leather patches in its jeans. At the brand’s annual general meeting, Tracy Reiman, Executive Vice President, PETA plans to urge LS&Co to scrap these patches in favor of the paper patches it already uses on most of its jeans, reports Sourcing Journal.

The organization claims, leather production requires the use of 130 different chemicals including cyanide, and produces huge amount of the greenhouse-gas emissions. Denim brands such as Kings of Indigo. It terms Levi’s use of leather as especially unnecessary since most of its jeans already have non-leather patches.

Responding to these allegations, LS&Co said, leather comprises just a small fraction of its collections as the brand strives to source all materials responsibly.