All articles by prameela vegi
prameela vegi
Covid Prompts Chinese Exit from Italian Textile Town
An unexpected victim of the coronavirus crisis is one of Italy’s largest Chinese communities, now dwindling rapidly after more than 30 years of growth in a small town in Tuscany. Chinese people began to settle in Prato, 11 miles (17 km) north of Florence, around the end of the 1980s, attracted by plentiful work in factories serving Italy’s clothing industry. Mostly from the eastern region of Zhejiang, they created a parallel industry producing low-cost fabrics alongside up-market Italian businesses supplying the country’s fashion houses.
Vietnam Textile Industry Wants Covid Priority
Vietnam’s garment and textile companies want their workers vaccinated against Covid-19 on a priority basis, and said they could buy the vaccine directly from the suppliers. Vu Duc Giang, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), said a proposal sent to the Government for the purpose is meant to speed up progress in “achieving community immunity and help enterprises stabilise production.”
Australian Fashion Industry Receives Budget Boost
The Australian government is investing $1m into the country’s fashion industry, in a bid to promote locally designed and produced products to overseas markets. The Australian Fashion Council will receive the funding and use it to fuel a local and international campaign that promotes Australian fashion for the next decade.
South Korean Industry Hit Hard by Covid-19
Self-employed businesses across South Korea suffered sales losses of near $20B USD in the Covid-19 year of 2020, with diners hit with the biggest blow of $5B. Self-employed business owners in 29 out of 52 sectors reported fall in sales for fiscal 2020 compared to a year earlier, according to National Tax Service data obtained by Rep. Chu Kyung-ho of main opposition People Power Party, on Tuesday.
Ethiopia Launches Agro-Industry Park
Ethiopian prime-minister Abiy Ahmed, inaugurated the state owned Bulbula Integrated Agro-Industry Park, which aims to process meat, fruits and vegetables, among others. Built in the Oromia region, the Park is on 263 hectares of land.
Birimian Holdings Invests in African Industry
Worth an estimated $31B Sub-Saharan Africa’s apparel, textile, and footwear market and its fashions are often an inspiration for international designers. However, many of its entrepreneurs operate in the informal sector.
Fashion Industry Unites to Help Students
French journalist Laurence Benaïm has rallied the fashion industry around an auction designed to raise funds for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic, for the second consecutive year — and actress Charlotte Rampling is lending a hand by helping to promote the event.
Luxury Deadstock Resale Site Launched by LVMH
Luxury goods conglomerate LVMH is launching an online market platform to sell off its deadstock high-end fabrics instead of letting them pile up in warehouses, or worse, having them destroyed. The new online marketplace called Nona Source will re-sell fabrics and leathers that were once carefully selected by designers working at one of the many fashions houses owned under the LVMH brand. The fabrics could come from any of the LVMH-owned brands, including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Celine, Loewe, and Marc Jacobs.
East African Leather Trade Welcomes New Online Platform
The East African Community’s trade in leather and leather products is growing slowly, with an average rate of 1.5% annually. To boost the trade among EAC partner states, an online platform has been launched: the Leather Industry Network platform for the East African region. Beatrice Mwasi, the Director of the Centre for Business Innovation & Training-CBiT said the online platform will be an effective tool for boosting trade in leather and leather products in East Africa.
Mulberry Unveils Green Manifesto
Luxury fashion brand Mulberry’s new sustainability programme includes a goal for the firm to create the lowest carbon leather on the planet. The half-century-old company said the leather would be sourced from ‘organic and environmentally conscious farms’ and be used to make its first-ever ‘farm to finished product’ bags, which are due to come out later this year. The proposal is outlined in the group’s six-point plan, known as the ‘Mulberry Made to Last Manifesto,’ that is aimed at having a ‘regenerative and circular model’ across its whole supply chain by 2030.