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The Texprint awards were presented by renowned Italian designer Nino Cerruti at Premiere Vision on September 17 in Paris. The prizes are awarded to promising textile design graduates from Britain. They exhibited their creativity at Première Vision. The selected students are given exposure to numerous buyers, press and investors from around the world. Nearly 24 designers were in contention for the Texprint prizes. There were four winners and they were selected under the categories of Color, Pattern, Space and Body. The judges were eminent representatives from the worlds of fashion, interiors, specialist textiles and retailing.
The prize for the most innovative use of color was awarded to Charlotte Beevor. Her large scale paintings have created a positive influence on various environments. The most creative pattern prize was presented to Jane Zhang. The space award for the best fabric design for interiors was awarded to Georgia Fisher. The Body prize for the best fashion fabric design went to Federica Tedeschi. She has interests in science, new technology, art and architecture.
The 2014 edition stood out for the introduction of the Miroglio Texprint Award for Digital Innovation, which seeks to identify the best use of digital innovation in printing. The prize went to designer Charlotte Hetheridge, who won over the jury with her screen-printed designs, created by optimising the natural properties of a range of basic fabrics inspired by symbolic figures such as falcons, lace and ceremonial armor.
China will slash its import quotas for 2015 to boost demand for the domestic fiber. To encourage domestic producers, the government will offer subsidies to provinces in the Yellow River and Yangtze River valley growing areas. China is the world’s top consumer of cotton. It will only provide import quotas next year for the 8,94,000 tons that it is required to offer at low duties under commitments with the World Trade Organisation.
Previously, China has offered another type of quota, in addition to the one compliant with the WTO, but no additional quota would be made available next year. Non-quota imports are subject to a 40 per cent tariff, so the restricted availability of import quotas will inevitably dampen Chinese demand for foreign cotton.
The change in quota policy will hurt major exporters such as the United States where Chinese demand has played a key role in influencing fiber prices. China said earlier this year it would end a three-year long program to stockpile domestic cotton to support local growers and instead offer subsidies direct to farmers.
Stockpiling had pushed prices of domestic cotton well above market prices, creating a demand for cheaper imported fiber. China’s cotton imports dropped by 32 per cent in 2013-2014 owing to weaker demand by the domestic textile sector and mills importing yarn instead of cotton.
Bread & Butter (B&B) held an event to introduce the forthcoming edition of B&B in Seoul. B&B boss Karl-Heinz Müller plans to host the maiden edition of B&B in South Korea’s capital next September. The introductory event saw Müller along with the mayor of Seoul, Won Soon Park and a gathering of around 600 guests at the Floating Islands on the banks of Seoul’s Han river.
In front of members of the Asian fashion industry and retail scene as well as Korean celebs and journalists, Müller explained his vision of Bread & Butter Seoul that is scheduled to take place from September 3-5, 2015. Explaining the reason behind Seoul as the next destination for B&B, he said that Seoul is being considered by other Asian countries as a window to discover new opportunities arising from foreign countries and serves a role as a hub into the Asian market.
During the last edition of the trade show in July, Müller had announced his plans of shifting the 2015 Berlin show to Barcelona. However, now he has decided to stick to Berlin. Muller had earlier got negative feedback for changing the venue since brand representatives were skeptical about the new location and date and many regular B&B exhibitors claimed that Barcelona was no option for them.
www.breadandbutter.com
Denim is getting better and better. The original look has new life with the help of modern and sustainable dye methods, ozone and laser finishes. In addition to this are worn, washed and used looks combined with classic twill structures or new knit-style replicas and true knit, imitating traditional denim structures.
Innovative spinning techniques have produced a lighter quality of denim. Stretch denim continues to be in demand. Special treatments, antibacterial denim and combinations of denim and FIR nylon fibers promise function and performance.
Sustainability continues to be a primary topic within the denim industry. After years of excessive water consumption and uncontrolled application of chemicals, today the industry attempts to make good on the environmental sins of the past. The stylish finishes are a result of ozone washes and laser finishes. Recycled synthetic materials are combined with denim. They are said to reduce material weight without changing the durability of the fabric, but most of all minimises the number of washes needed for certain looks.
Indigo continues its dominance as the leading color. Laser finish continues to establish itself in the industry and is becoming a trend. Jeanologia is a pioneer in this sector and uses unique laser systems able to create everything without water and within a few minutes – from simple, small details to aggressive, large-scale designs.
Tengri, a new high-end fashion label using yak's wool, has released its first range of ethical woolens. The name Tengri means pantheon of gods in Mongolian. The brand aims to shake the dominance of cashmere clothing with its alternative soft fabric. Founded by Nancy Johnson, a former charity worker, in March this year, Tengri seeks to highlight the plight of Mongolian yak herders, many of whom can no longer make a living from their traditional, nomadic lifestyle.
Mongolian wool is spun from fleece-bearing animals that live in the geography loosely called Mongolia. Mostly, the fleece is grown on sheep. Johnson is hoping to transform the lives of 1,000 Mongolian families that are currently supplying their yak wool to her social start-up.
Mongolia is the largest exporter of cashmere in the world. Mongolian nomads used to earn most of their income raising goats which produce the soft fibers that are used to make the high-end cashmere sweaters, scarves and coats. Yet they were forced to sell or slaughter their goats because the demand for luxury goods plummeted during the financial crisis.
The price of cashmere dropped drastically, leading to overgrazing and over herding of the goats to meet demand. Shearing is also impossible as there is almost no electricity on the steppe.
RWTH Aachen University is one of the leading technology oriented universities in Germany. Energy efficiency and environment are strategic key topics at RWTH Aachen University. The Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) is the textile division of Aachen. It recently completed 80 years. Research at the ITA covers the complete textile production chain. Four divisions research production technology, develop new materials and discover innovative concepts for technological products. The ITA has about 170 machines at its disposal, ranging from small sewing machines to five- meter-high braiding machines.
ITA does research in fiber processing of thermoplastic polymers. This concerns the process chain from compounding, yarn production (melt spinning) to yarn post processing (drawing, texturizing) until the various techniques of textile fabric production like weaving and non woven. The institute owns several melt spinning plants and its focus is technological development of the machine technology and innovative textile fibers.
ITA has established the world’s first multi-scale system for the production of precursors and carbon fibers to enable small to medium sized enterprises an entry into the growing carbon market. By developing new material technologies, ITA establishes an important link to practical implementation. A new environmentally friendly process management allows 17 pe rcent cost savings in the production of carbon fibers. This new development will have far reaching consequences for applications in the aerospace industry.
www.ita.rwth-aachen.de/
Cotton and textile industry play a significant role in Zimbabweans economic growth and development. The International Trade Centre (ITC) a joint agency of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and United Nations (UN) has announced that Zimbabwe would be launching the Cotton-to-Clothing (C2C) Export Strategy at an indaba in Bulawayo next week.
The strategy is funded by the European Union (EU) under the EU-Africa partnership on cotton. The indaba will be held on September 26. The said strategy aims to revive the country’s cotton and textile industry since more than one million Zimbabweans, including farmers, ginners, and textile producers as well as their families depend on cotton for their day to day livelihoods, said ITC, which developed the strategy together with the ministry of industry and commerce.
The joint strategy is meant to promote the industry in eastern and southern Africa and intends to increase cotton lint production to 450, 000 tons per year. It also aims to increase exports of textiles and garments to $7.5 million by 2019. Mike Bimha, Zimbabwe’s Industry and Commerce minister, Dorothy Tembo, ITC’s deputy executive director and Sindiso Ngwenya, secretary-general of COMESA, will oversee the launch of the strategy at the Bulawayo Clothing Indaba.
www.intracen.com
Leading international fashion brands such as H & M have indicated that they are willing to pay higher rates for garments made in Cambodia if the government decides to increase minimum wages for garment workers. Eight retailers gave assurance in a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon and to the Chairman of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), which represents garment factory owners in the country.
Meanwhile agitated Cambodian garment factory workers launched a new campaign this week seeking an increase of their monthly minimum wage to $177 from $100 effective 2015. Hundreds of workers carried out demonstrations in their factories during lunch break to highlight their demand ahead of a meeting of the Labor Advisory Committee (LAC), an organization of employers, the government, and unions, on September 26 during which officials will discuss a possible minimum wage increase in January.
A previous demand for a wage hike to $160, had been rejected by employers, who had raised salaries to $100 from $80 this year. “As responsible business, our purchasing practices will enable the payment of a fair living wage and increased wages will be reflected in our FOB prices, taking also into account productivity and efficiency gains and the development of the skills of workers, carried out in cooperation with unions at workplace level," H &M and other retailers Inditex, C & A, N Brown, Tchibo, Next Retail, Primark and New Look said in the letter.
The retailers also said that they expect the government and GMAC to establish processes "to ensure all workers receive the new agreed minimum wage by monitoring wage implementation and policing suppliers that fail to meet the new minimum wage level. This will ensure an equal level playing field and create a competitive advantage for the factories that comply with the new minimum wage."
www.hm.com
Cotton Council International (CCI), Cotton Incorporated (CI) and Cotton Australia (CA) will unite to promote cotton at the 2014 Shanghai Intertextile Apparel Fabrics. These organizations, collectively, will be bringing the focus to responsible cotton production and sourcing. Additionally, CI and CCI will be helping companies discover what cotton can do through production innovations, supply chain opportunities and marketing programs.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Cotton Incorporated will present a trend forecast for Spring/Summer 2016. Cotton Council International is a non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of cotton. In India, it implements a Generic Cotton Education program, which strives to increase the demand among end consumers for products made from 100 per cent cotton.
This year, CCI has renewed and reinvigorated the Cotton USA brand, which appears with quality products that exemplify the passion of US cotton farmers and an industry that spans across the country. Its clean modernity invokes the innovative American spirit and celebrates the values of purity, quality and responsibility: a living ingredient born in the USA from seed, sun and soil.
Cotton Incorporated, funded by US growers of upland cotton and importers of cotton and cotton textile products, is the research and marketing company representing upland cotton. Cotton Australia is the peak body for Australia’s cotton growing industry.
The cotton production industry in Azerbaijan is facing setbacks. Over the past 18 years, cotton production has decreased six times in the country. The acreage has fallen nine fold. Azerbaijan produced 2.7 million tons of cotton in 1995, while in 2013 the figure stood at 4,52,000 tons. This decrease is the result of a fall in cotton prices in world markets. The high use of artificial material worldwide has negatively affected the cotton growing sector.
The country is taking measures to reduce the cost of cotton production. Despite the decrease in production in Azerbaijan, Russia increased its import of cotton from Azerbaijan by almost 20 per cent in 2013.
During the Soviet regime, especially in the 1980s, the primary emphasis in agriculture was placed on cotton cultivation. Since then, production has declined. The agricultural industry lacks adequate machinery, equipment, and technology and, thus, cotton cultivation and harvesting is outdated.
Cotton still remains a strategic product for Azerbaijan. Nevertheless, the extent of cultivation has diminished considerably. The reduction of the cotton cultivation can also be blamed on internal politics. In 1992, political leaders in Azerbaijan branded cotton cultivation as slavery, and, subsequently, the mass media launched an anti-cotton campaign oblivious to the importance of cotton for the country’s economy.
