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Demand for smart clothing is picking up in Japan, promising a potential new source of income for the industry. Asahi Kasei will develop smart clothes that can monitor wearers’ health and maybe save their lives.
The Tokyo-based chemical company will partner with US subsidiary Zoll Medical to apply Asahi’s Roboden elastic wires to wearable devices. Potential uses include critical care and health monitoring.
Toray, known for carbon fiber, and telecom operator Nippon Telegraph & Telephone have developed the Hitoe polyester material that can detect faint electrical signals from the body’s surface. As well as measuring heart rate during sporting activities, the fabric is also used to measure the physical strain on factory workers laboring in hot environments. Hoping to capture new demand, Toray plans to begin sales of medical-use clothing for electrocardiography this year.
Textile maker Toyobo’s film-like Cocomi material contains a conductive layer that functions like an electrode. It is being tested in wearable products for bus and truck drivers with the aim of preventing sleeping at the wheel.
Fabric producer Kurabo has begun working with a transport operator to test a product aimed at preventing heatstroke.
Much more than strapping gadgets to wrists, faces, ears and feet, smart clothing can constantly track heart rate, monitor emotions and even pay for coffee. All without grabbing a phone or even tapping a smartwatch screen.
Kufner’s product line XShield is a solution to protect from electro-magnetic radiation and unauthorized access to RFID data and may be applied to various market segments from fashion and leisure wear, home textiles, automotive, military, sports, medical to construction and electronics industries.
Kufner’s TIP security system provides effective support. Valuable freight, from documents or computing equipment to large-scale, even oversized, items, can be effectively protected against theft and unauthorized access with this sensor-based fabric. In case of damage due to mechanical or chemical impact, an alert is triggered that can be forwarded upon request to the nearest police station including exact positioning indication via an app. The alert technology is compatible with various systems so that individual scenarios can be created according to customer needs.
Kufner has various smart, textile-based products for a variety of solutions and applications. Kufner’s blend of textile expertise and engineering competence leads to ever more exciting new products and applications. Kufner is one of the leading companies for interlinings in the apparel industry. Based in Germany, it has four sites on two continents producing about 150 million meters each year. The vertical integration includes weaving, knitting, finishing and coating as well as production of thermos-bonded nonwovens and warp production.
As a global provider of technical solutions, Kufner has over 20 distribution companies and a worldwide service network in over 60 countries that guarantees short delivery times.
Diesel has appointed Stefano Rosso as CEO of the label’s North American business. Stefano is Renzo Rosso’s son, and since 2005 he has held various positions within Rosso’s OTB group, which owns Diesel as well as other labels including Marni, Maison Margiela and Viktor & Rolf.
Stefano Rosso, 38, is a graduate of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, and worked in marketing and manufacturing at Diesel, before leaving the denim brand in 2011 and joining OTB.
There he first acted as director of corporate development, before being appointed co-CEO in 2013, with the specific responsibility of managing the group's corporate governance and guiding the People & Organisation function, with the goal of building the managerial team of the future.
Stefano Rosso will start in his new post in July, taking over the North American leadership from Tommaso Brusò, who has joined the Benetton group as COO.
In the USA, Diesel currently operates some twenty mono brand stores and fifteen outlets.
Diesel is an Italian denim brand. The new 887 square meter Diesel Planet opened in Italy has a new digital format. The shopping experience it offers is revolutionary and interactive. In addition to offering interior design inspired by the idea of an apartment with vintage furnishings, Persian carpets and wooden ceilings it also launches a new digital retail model with avant-garde technologies like various touch-points to enrich the purchasing experience with interactive content and information about the product.
N. Schlumberger, the world leader in spinning lines participated at the expo. Patrick Strehle, sales director of N. Schlumberger also presented a collaboration for processing Para-aramid fibres and carbon fibres.
Elias Junker, an area sales manager, described how a recycling and nonwoven eco-friendly solution was tailor made for Nova Fibers (Grupo de Todos) in Guatemala. Hubert Ttretsch, Superba marketing manager explained how a new yarn style was developed in collaboration with a leading Turkish carpet manufacturer.
A new textured yarn style, required by fashion trends, was aimed by this major Turkish producer. The demand was developing for textured (frieze) yarns, but the yarns produced with the existing machines showed too high frieze effect, too randomly curved. A light, and especially even frieze effect was sought by the customer and the end-user. David Fauconnier, sales director of Dollfus & Muller, presented 3 key belts and felts developed in close partnerships with European textile machinery manufacturers.First an innovative non-marking and non-sticking dryer belt, second, a special endless palmer felt for ultra-sensitive fabrics with a felted soft surface and third a non-marking and non-sticking dryer belt for digital printed fabrics.
Zimbabwe is expecting a sharp increase in cotton production. Cottco, the country’s sole authorised cotton buyer, has set aside 44 million dollars to buy the crop. Cottco has set up 433 buying points across the country where farmers can sell their produce.
The expected increase in production can be attributed to the steps taken to revive the industry. To boost cotton production, free inputs were provided to growers during the 2016-17 cropping season.
During the current buying season, Cottco would initially pay 40 cents per kg, and after grading the crop it will pay additional grade-related price adjustment of 15 cents for Grade A, ten cents for Grade B and five cents for Grade D.
So cotton growers can expect to receive a price between 40 cents per kg to 55 cents per kg depending on the quality of their cotton.
Production of cotton had significantly declined in recent years owing to the high cost of production and unending fights over pricing between farmers and merchants.
During the 2016-17 cropping season, the government provided growers with free cotton inputs worth 36 million dollars to boost production of the crop.
Zimbabwe’s textile and clothing sub-sector consists of three components: production and ginning of cotton, transformation of lint into yarn and fabric, and the conversion of fabric and yarn into garments.
Chinese investment in Bangladesh has experienced very high annual growth in recent years. Two factors are driving Chinese investment into Bangladesh. One is that labor cost in China is getting higher. Second there are opportunities in Bangladesh, in power, infrastructure, rails, roads and bridges.
Many of China's labor-intensive export processing units have been shifting to other countries.
Standard Chartered Bangladesh has been involved in facilitating Chinese investment into the Bangladesh economy and has been acting as a bridge between Chinese investors and investment opportunities in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's exports to China are heavily concentrated on garments despite having duty-free market access of over 4,700 items.
Of nearly 800 million dollar exports to China this fiscal year, 84 per cent were garments.
The trade gap between China and Bangladesh is in favor of China. The Chinese are looking to invest in export-oriented manufacturing, where Chinese companies will make their products in Bangladesh for shipping back home.
Chinese companies would undertake joint ventures with local companies as this would decrease their costs while also providing them with local knowledge.
A lot of Chinese investment in Bangladesh comes via Singapore, Hong Kong or the US. Garments, shoes and toys are some of the labor-intensive industries that may relocate to Bangladesh.
AWI considering Wool Exchange Portal generating industry benefits of $38 million in its first fifteen years. Based on an assumption that 15 percent of Australia’s wool growers producing about 36pc of the nation’s clip would use the WEP in its first five years, a WEP business case commissioned by the group has extrapolated $38 million in consolidated industry benefits over 15 years. WEP-WG chairman Will Wilson says that these advantages are assumed to come from cost savings to growers generated by the public reporting of broker fees
Wilson says the Wool Selling Systems after calculation could shed to port to be around $166. The WEP’s annual operating cost has been estimated at $860,000-$890,000, it is further expected to be self-funding within three years as per the business case model.
The Australian-based technology company Levo has been contracted by AWI in a “discovery phase”, to build the online portal at a cost $3-$4 million.
Wilson says that the working group hoped to get people using the WEP for trading wool and for getting information on trading options. He stated that a ready reckoner would be developed so growers can input their “specific parameters” and find out their most cost-efficient way of selling their wool. The WEP might also have a role in facilitating long term supply contracts with processors within the industry regimen of testing and payment guarantee he added.
AWI believes the WEP will deliver greater pricing efficiency and increased competition within the wool selling system as well as providing all industry participants with a one-stop portal where all buying and selling options can be transparently evaluated and future price realisation mechanisms can be accommodated and made available.
According to the AWI engagement of Levo will allow the industry to target specialty service providers to best fit the various offerings that the WEP will aim to provide. It will also be a more cost effective use of funds and reduce the likelihood of duplication where certain software may already exist.
The industry and stakeholder consultation involved with the WEP began in 2014 and has involved a significant number of meetings, discussions and publications.
Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals, is keeping nature top-of-mind for its OutDoor 2017 ( an event organized by Messe Friedrichshafen, Germany) debut with a showcase of advanced innovations and solutions to enhance outdoor, urban and active wear. Under the motto: “Enhancing your gear, it’s our nature”, Archroma invites show visitors to discover how to Create exciting color effects, Make gear more resistant to extreme weather, to bring softness and comfort to your gear and lastly to take a sustainability step up. In keeping with the event’s progressive feel, easy-to-use Outdoor Solution Navigators will be available on touchscreens at the booth, side-by-side with experts and samples, to encourage visitors to explore their ideas and uncover new ways to enhance their gear sustainably. Visitors at the booth will also be able to discover the new fabric collection created by Flocus and colored with Archroma’s Earthcolors. Flocus is a company producing yarns, fillings and fabrics made from kapok fibers, for which they received the 2016 OutDoor Industry award in the Sustainable Innovation category.
There will be a 11 hours OutDoor conferences program with the presentation that will be held on 19th June that will present EarthColors technology – Garments from nature to the store”, Conference Center East, Room Paris. The presentation will be delivered by NuriaEstape, Head of Marketing & Promotion for Archroma’s Brand & Performance Textile Specialties business. Headquartered in Reinach,Archroma is a global color and specialty chemicals company. It operates in 35 countries and with 24 production sites. Archroma helps the outdoor, urban and active wear sectors bring ideas to life and develop collections with a soul. Its three businesses – Brand & Performance Textile Specialties, Packaging and Paper Specialties, and Coatings,deliver specialized performance and color solutions to meet customers’ needs.
With over 72 million followers, Nike has become the most popular fashion brand on Instagram. Swedish company H&M stands second in the list with over 21 million followers on Instagram.
Instagram is increasingly becoming an important marketing channel for retailers. The platform recently reached 700 million monthly active users, and its emphasis on visuals lends itself well to fashion brands. Instagram has been experimenting with shoppable posts recently, allowing brands to add product details and links to their photos.
This has made Nike the fifteenth most popular Instagram account in the world, beating celebrities like Khloe Kardashian and Miley Cyrus.
As the world’s most popular visual social network, a quality Instagram presence is a necessity for high street fashion brands. It’s essential to their success.
Nike is the world’s largest athletic apparel and gear maker. Nike’s gear is widely seen on courts and running trails, but the brand also has remained on-trend as part of the growing consumer interest in athleisure — a term that describes the growing acceptance of wearing athletic apparel and shoes just about anywhere.
Nike has reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit, fueled by higher demand across markets such as Western Europe and Greater China and lower costs.
India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will shortly begin negotiations for a free trade agreement. The five-member EEU comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. India’s annual trade with EEU is currently at 8.4 billion dollars.
A strong FTA between India and the EEU is expected to help strengthen the India-EEU strategic partnership.
The EEU has so far concluded only one FTA and that is with Vietnam. India will probably be the second.
The Green Corridor plays a role in promoting trade facilitation between India and Russia. This corridor can be extended to the other EEU countries in due course.
The Eurasian Economic Union was created in 2015 and was meant to be the first successful post-Soviet initiative to overcome trade barriers and promote integration in a fragmented, under-developed region.
It covers a single economic market of 170 million people and a gross domestic product of 2.7 trillion dollars.
On paper, the EEU is an economic, technocratic project that offers some benefits to members, particularly in easing cross-border trade and facilitating labor migration. Access to Russia’s labor market has been an important motivator and, on balance, a positive outcome for struggling post-Soviet economies. There are also expected to be long-term gains from harmonising customs and trade rules.
