Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab's bioLogic group have created a new form of performance fabric that combines biomaterials research with textile design. BioLogic is growing living actuators and synthesizing responsive bio-skin in the era where, researchers declare, “bio is the new interface.” They are imagining a world where actuators and sensors can be grown rather than manufactured, being derived from nature as opposed to engineered in factories, MIT said on its

Indonesian textile and garment makers are pushing the government to join a greater economic partnership with European and Pacific Rim countries in order to boost the country’s exports by taking part in the two international trade pacts. Anne Patricia Sutanto, deputy CEO of garment manufacturer PT Pan Brothers, said that she expected that that the government would stay committed to joining comprehensive partnerships with the EU and US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). She added that they

China's cotton yield continued to decline in 2015 as the growing area decreased, official data showed. Cotton yield in the world's second largest economy decreased 574,000 tonnes, or 9.3 percent, year on year to 5.6 million tonnes, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Last year, the cotton growing area went down 423,400 hectares, or 10 percent, to 3.799 million hectares, in China, said Hou Rui, senior statistician of the NBS. The Yangtze River Basin and the Yellow River

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region aims to create 200,000 jobs in the textile sector for low-income residents over the next five years, the regional economic and information technology commission said. The region created 130,000 jobs in the textile industry over the past five years. Twenty-two enterprises have recently opened in Aksu Textile Park in southern Xinjiang, producing 10 million meters of cotton cloth with 800,000 spindles every year. Ninety-five percent of the 1,

The tax sum Vietnamese textile & garment companies now have to pay when exporting products to the US is higher than the tax sums enterprises from other TPP-member countries pay in total. This means that when TPP takes effect and the import tariff is cut to zero percent, Vietnamese companies will be able to save $1 billion as they won’t have to pay tax when exporting products to the US. The tax sum Vietnamese textile & garment companies now have to pay when exporting product

For the month of January wool imports to Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu province reached 11,000 tons, valuing 384.3 million yuan ($59 million), up 27 and 29 percent respectively from 2015, according to the entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau. So far, the wool is mainly imported from Australia and New Zealand, with increasingly growing numbers from Europe, America and Africa. The city's wool import sector remains developing steadily in the slowing economy conditions. Most wool imported in

H&M, a Swedish multinational retail clothing company, has put a ban on cotton from Turkmenistan and Syria due to underage workers involved in cotton cultivation, the company said in a press release. The company which known for its fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers and children, has signed a commitment requirement with all its suppliers that they don't buy cotton from Turkmenistan or Syria. The suppliers that do not sign the commitment would not be allowed to work with H&

Pakistan cotton crop for the year 2015/16 due to its sharp reduction in output, textile manufacturers are anticipate serious affects on export activities for which they demand for an immediate tax holiday on import of cotton, that might off-set decline in the textile exports. All Pakistan Textile Manufacturers Association (Aptma) has sent a letter to the finance minister, informing that the cotton crop for the year 2015/16 had miserably failed to meet the industry requirement. There is a shor

THE yuan could be a safe haven currency for international investors due to its stable valuation against a basket of currencies, while the currency has no basis to continue depreciating, a senior Chinese central bank researcher said yesterday. China is one of the most prudent economies in the world with stable growth, abundant foreign exchange reserves, small foreign debt and large trade surplus, Yao Yudong, head of the People Bank of China’s Research Institute of Finance and Banking, wrote in

The Indian denim industry is looking to gradually increase its share of exports from its current 35%. Experts feel that the industry will have to increase its capacity by another 300 million metres. The sector’s current share of domestic sales is 65%. "Historically, denim has been one of the fastest growing apparel fabric segments, having grown by 500 million metres from 700 million metres in 2010 to 1.2 billion in 2015. Yet, there is a gap of another 300 million metres in India if the denim