Superprotective garb for withstanding both flood and fire is on the horizon now that Chinese chemists have come up with a self-healing, triple-dip coating that turns cotton flame resistant and waterproof , according to media reports. Flame-retardant fabric coatings, found on children’s pajamas and furniture fabrics, often wash away, says Junqi Sun of Jilin University, in China. Sun wondered whether adding a waterproof coating would extend the life of water-soluble fire retardants. He decided

Bangladesh denim producers are gradually turning into design innovators, bringing a new dimension to the denim industry to attract global buyers. The once buyer-driven denim industry now witnesses the manufacturers’ innovations and new designs of denim, paving the way for a careful choice by the retailers. “About 90% of denim work in Bangladesh was driven by the global buyers, who made designs through research and development, but the recent trend has changed. The manufacturers now offer t

A couple of years ago, when industrial production was showing some signs of revival, one commodity seemed to be taking the entire burden of acceleration. This happened to be the garments sector, which showed close to three-digit growth for several months. This performance was completely at odds with the growth registered by the textiles sector, which, logic would suggest, should grow at comparable rates. The reason that this backdrop may be important is that the February numbers for the Index of

British online fashion retailer Missguided has seen spectacular growth in sales over the twelve months to March, 2015. “We are thrilled yet again to be celebrating record revenue for the year end. Our huge growth over the past six years indicates that our strategy, rooted in speed, agility and value for consumers, is working,” commented the results the company’s founder. In the year to the end of March, sales at Missguided improved by 70 percent to 86 million pounds, with pre-tax profits

One of the oldest ways to fertilise crops was “slash and burn” agriculture, where tropical forests are intentionally levelled and burned to create open space and nutrients for crops. In the US, this month’s innovation turns this practice upside down to access a waste product from the pulp wood industry as a fertiliser for cotton. According to a report on the website of America’s cotton producers and importers, Coley Bailey in Coffeeville, Mississippi, has perfected a system to sustainably uti

China is seriously planning to shift part of its $300 billion textile industry to Pakistan, in coming years. This was revealed by one of the Pakistani delegates, who returned to Pakistan on Thursday after eight days official visit to China. After spending more than one week and meeting senior government officials and Chinese businessmen, I can surely say that China is very serious and it is working out a plan to shift textile industry to Pakistan, in coming years, official said. In this

The Union government is to re-introduce the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (Tufs), perhaps for at least 10 years, in the new textile policy, scheduled to be out by month-end. In the revised policy, the onus of funding the sector is likely to be put on the states where factories exist. “We have increased states’ share in central taxes to 42 per cent from 32 per cent earlier. So, we are looking to introduce Tufs with some tweaks; states might be asked to fund it. We are looking for a long-t

Cotton futures fell on Thursday after a monthly US government supply and demand report showed increases in projections for United States and world inventories, outweighing the impact of a generally positive weekly export sales report. The front-month May cotton contract on ICE Futures US fell 0.51 cent, or 0.8 percent, to settle at 66.22 cents a lb, after falling as low as 66.11 cents a lb. The losses came after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its monthly supply and demand r

China’s cotton policies will evolve based on continued movement toward a market-driven economy, balancing the interests of Chinese cotton farmers against those of textile manufacturers, disposal of the country’s large cotton stocks, and compliance with World Trade Organisation commitments, says the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Economic Research Service of the USDA in a report has concluded that China’s cotton policy during 2011-13 had unintended consequences and became unsustaina

The textile industry is the largest manufacturing industry in Ethiopia. There are a number of state-owned and private textile and garment factories. The industry contributes the lion-share of employment in the manufacturing sub-sector. Ethiopia is rightly christened as the ‘Bangladesh of Africa’. Under the Growth and Transformation Plan, “production of textile and garments” besides leather products, cement industry, metal and engineering, chemical, pharmaceuticals and agro-processing are pri