The US retail industry employment in June 2018 saw monthly gains in clothing and clothing accessory stores, which were up by 6,900 jobs, and non-store, which includes online, was up 1,700 jobs, the National Retail Federation (NRF) has said. Total retail industry employment during the month increased by 50,200 jobs unadjusted over the same time last year. The increase in retail industry employment in June was despite a seasonally adjusted drop from May of 25,800. The increase of 50,200 jobs ex

AMTEX 2018, the biennial machine tools and engineering exhibition in India, is showcasing the latest innovations and dedicated solutions that will address the growing needs of the machine tools industry from the Netherlands, Italy, South Korea, China, Germany, and Taiwan. The on-going exhibition is displaying machinery and products from over 450 companies. Focusing on automotive, power, electrical equipment, textile machinery and consumer goods industry, the exhibition introduced shows dedica

Earth Alive Clean Technologies (EAC), a leading Canadian clean-tech company, developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art microbial technology-based products for sustainable agriculture and mining, has announced the launch of the Clean Fibre Initiative, a collaborative research project to improve the production of natural fibre crops in Canada and around the world. Hemp is a fibre crop that is experiencing rapid expansion in North America and around the world. Legislative changes are making

An export promotion cell is being planned this year by the Indian ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) to coordinate with other departments and export promotion councils to raise shipments of products like khadi, leather and coir, and to identify clusters that can export directly or through aggregators, according to ministry secretary AK Panda.The initiative will boost strategies for export from MSMEs, which contribute around 45 per cent of the overall shipments from India, acc

Vietnam’s textile and apparel industry expects to achieve high growth rates over the next 12 years, Tran Du Lich, member of National Advisory Council on Financial and Monetary Policy, told the 4th Vietnam Textile Summit in Hanoi recently. Textile goods worth around $31 billion were exported last year, representing a 10.23 per cent year-on-year rise, he said. The rapid growth is expected to continue this year with an estimated turnover of $33 billion, he said. The sector also promotes the

The Indian Government will change the base year for calculating gross domestic product (GDP) and retail inflation to 2017-18 and 2018 respectively, which is expected to be effective by 2019-20. The last base year for GDP, index of industrial production (IIP) and consumer price index (CPI) was revised to 2011-12 and 2012 (for inflation), a news agency reported. Allaying fears that the government has changed the GDP and CPI calculation methodologies to suit its needs, minister of statistics and

As many as 364 factories affiliated with the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (Alliance) have completed all material components outlined in their Corrective Action Plans (CAP). The Alliance provides global RMG firms and retailers opportunity to come together and put forward concrete solutions to issues that impact apparel and retail firms worldwide. “We commend the commitment these factories have made to prioritize safety for their workers, and we thank them for setting a standard for ot

Cotton prices in India are likely to stay firm during the next fiscal following the tight demand-supply scenario, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) recently said in a report. Supply constraints may arise from lower fibre production this season due to pests, acreage drop in the next season and adverse weather in other key cotton-growing nations, it said. However, the expectation of firming prices may encourage farmers to sow and arrest the acreage contraction, a news agency reported citing t

The 25th Fashion Week Spring/Summer, organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, will be held from July 9 to 12, 2018, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. In the light of fashion technology, a series of seminars on the applications of fashion tech will be held during the event to help industry players to keep abreast with the trend. On July 10, 2018, a seminar entitled ‘The Next Wave in Fashion Technology’ will share on some of the state-of-art technologies disrupt

Moving towards sustainability, Thermore has introduced a revolutionary and blowable product - Ecodown Fibres. These fibres ensure the same loft as high quality 90/10 feathers and can likewise be blown into a garment. Tests performed on Ecodown Fibres have shown an outstanding fill power of over 600, which is how the product guarantees that “puffy” look. The loft of down products is calculated with the “fill power test”: fibres are blown through a cylinder and their volume is measured. The