Running a garment factory is no easy task, even - or especially when - more than 80 percent of all exports are taken up by readymade garments. And even when safety requirements have been fulfilled. There are many other factors like local and global competition, constant time pressure, shortages of resources like electricity and gas, high interest rates for bank loans and the devaluation of currencies in target countries to make survival tough. In Bangladesh, 319 garment factories will have t

Despite increasing number of countries competing in the garment export business, the United States was still the key buyer and the main market for Cambodian garment and textile industry, said the Minister of Labor Lth Sam Heng after a meeting with US ambassador William Hiedt at the ministry on Wednesday. Mr Sam Heng said that the United States’ market is still very important for them. Although it is now the second biggest importing market after the European market, it is still big and worth b

Despite the slight easing in growth momentum as shown by April economic data released on Saturday, Chinese economy has shown continued improvement in restructuring. The year-on-year growth of fixed-asset investment, industrial production and retail sales all cooled in April after a recovery in the first quarter, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. But in month-on-month terms, all had positive growth. Importantly, there have been some encouraging changes in the structure of growth.

The Senate Committee on National Food Security and Research has asked the government to immediately stop the import of cotton lint from India. Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, while chairing the committee meeting on Wednesday, warned that the country’s agriculture economy would be ruined if the import of 0.5 million bales of cotton from India was not stopped. The committee’s members observed that the last season showed a 30 per cent decline in cotton production, adding that the figure could ri

The Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA) has urged the Union Government to slap anti-dumping duty on fabrics imported from China and other countries to save India's domestic man-made fabric (MMF) sector. In a letter to Union Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar, FOSTTA said that almost half the MMF sector in Surat has been forced to observe a total shutdown for the past one month. Powerloom weavers have stopped manufacturing polyester fabric due to weak demand in the face of

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, a producer of spider silk based fibres, recently announced that it plans to establish more than one additional production site, including its domestic operations. The production site would operate parallel to the prior announced plans for operations in Vietnam. The added production facilities will allow the company to fulfill outstanding material request for recombinant spider silk fibres from its partners and prospective clients. “Although securing a healthy

Come 2017, and India may easily tend to lose at least around $1-2 billion or more in terms of garment and fabric exports, thanks to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being implemented between 12 member nations including the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Malaysia and South Korea, and some Latin American countries. TPP mandates that for member countries to export garments to each other, they should source 75 per cent of the raw materials like yarn and fabric within them

The cotton market remained steady on Monday amid slow trading. However, small spinners, who were keen to replenish their stocks, were unable to get hold of big lot deals due to depleting stocks held by ginners. Moreover, the short supply of cotton during off-season period has now forced many big spinners to import more cotton. Market sources said that around 50,000 tonnes have already reached the country in a period of one month. Earlier, spinners imported around 3.5 million cotton bales,

Nomadix, California based apparel manufacturer has partnered withRecover Textiles, a Spanish producer of upcycled cotton yarns, to launch the ‘clean apparel campaign’ which intends to make sustainable T-shirts that uses recycled textile waste without using any water or dyes. The campaign seeks to raise money for production of the Clean Tee which is made entirely from recycled cotton. Nomadix T-shirt reduces water consumption by 99 per cent. It consists of reblending cotton from used clothing

The first nine months financials of the listed companies of the textile sector suggest that the industry is heavily under pressure, as only 30 percent of the listed companies of textile industry marginally performing while remaining 70 percent companies showing closure or negative results. Financials of the non-listed textile companies are even worst and the exports of the sector are showing negative trends over the last two years. Unprecedented cotton crop failure caused 35% drop in producti