On a preliminary basis, American Apparel total net sales for July 2013 showed a 5 percent rise over June 2012. Comparable sales for June 2013 increased 8 percent including a 6 percent increase in comparable store sales in the retail store channel and a 23 percent increase in net sales in the online channel. Wholesale net sales increased 2 percent for the month. "July represents our 26th consecutive month of positive comparable store sales growth," said Dov Charney, Chairman and Chief Executive.

The United States will cease paying a $147 million annual settlement to Brazil that is part of a long-running trade dispute over cotton subsidies, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday. The United States agreed to pay the money to Brazil in 2010, just before the South American country was set to raise tariffs on hundreds of millions of dollars in American goods, including autos, pharmaceuticals and electronics. Stopping the payments could prompt Brazil to threaten retaliation again.

The government has raised the annual export target for textiles from $36 billion to $43 billion in July 2013, following discussions with textiles export promotion councils in the backdrop of rupee depreciation and strong industry performance. The ministry of textiles has mooted a proposal for amendments in Factories Act 1948, seeking amendments in Section 59 — extra wages for overtime and section 64 — power to make exempting rules to provide for overtime wages at the rate of one-one quarter tim

Cotton production in India, the world’s second-biggest exporter, will climb to a record as above-average monsoon rainfall increased planting, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said. “The growing areas have received very good rains,” Pawar said in an interview yesterday. “Excessive rains in some areas will not impact the total output. Production should reach a record.” The harvest was the highest ever at 35.2 million bales of 170 kilograms each in 2011-2012, according to Agriculture Ministry dat

China's crude oil imports jumped 19.6 percent in July from a year earlier to a record high of 26.11 million tons, or 6.18 million barrels a day (bpd), government data showed Thursday. July imports also grew 17.8 percent from June's 22.17 million tons (5.60 million bpd), the General Administration of Customs said on its Website. The figure surpassed the previous record of 6.03 million bpd logged in May 2012. China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer after the US, imported 5.68 million bpd

Thies GmbH has introduced a new “iMaster” F series dyeing machine specifically for dyeing high pile fabrics such as terry toweling. The “iMaster” F series has been designed for dyeing heavy pile fabrics, such as terry toweling, and ensures economic and environmental operation with advanced automation at low liquor levels as low as 1:4 for cotton. The F series is the latest innovation for the highly successful “iMaster” range of dyeing machines. It features a large transport winch inside th

Based on the current scenario in international business climate the apparel sector has set itself a target of achieving US$ 5 billion in 2015 through garment exports. A further US$ 1 billion is targeted from the emerging new market in China around that time, together will make the apparel sector worth nearly US$7 billion before the end of 2020, Tuli Cooray Secretary-General of the JAAF said. President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as Finance Minister last week released a gazette notificat

Cambodia's garment industry makes up 80% of its exports and employs hundreds of thousands of people. Strikes and violent demonstrations at garment factories in Cambodia have quadrupled over the past year, and a recent report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) said that conditions at factories were worse now than they had been in recent years. Source: BBC