The Vietnam textile and apparel association (VITAS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Center for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI), an agency of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs which supports the clothing manufacturers and producers of developing countries to expand their exports in the EU, for expansion of their garment exports. Speaking to fibre2fashion, vice chairwoman of VITAS, Ms. Dung Dang said, “We have signed a MoU with CBI for co

Garments companies are being urged not to pin all their hopes on the Save Our Industries Act which would grant preferential access to exports to the United States. An official of the Board of Investments (BOI) said there are quite a number of new projects in garments manufacturing coming in, indicative that they still find the sector attractive. But the official said BOI is pushing these firms to tap markets other than the US, or supply the domestic market. The official added that while

In April 2013, H&M Group total sales including VAT in local currencies increased by 11 percent compared to the same month the previous year. Sales in comparable units increased by 1 percent. Comparable units comprise the stores and the internet and catalogue sales countries that have been in operation for at least a financial year. Sales during the first weeks in April were negatively affected by the unseasonably cold weather mainly in Europe. The total number of stores amounted to 2,881 on

John Lewis is to open a new 100,000 square foot department store at Oxford’s Westgate Centre, which will create 500 new jobs. The new ‘flexible format department store’ is set to open in 2017 and will highlight fashion, home and consumer electronics concepts in a contemporary setting over three floors. The department store will also include a cafe, a dedicated customer collection entrance located in the car park, and will feature computer terminals in-store to allow shoppers to browse the wider

Puma has cut its revenue and earnings forecast for the full year after reporting sales worse than expected in Europe and Asia. However, Puma still expects to continue to increase net profit compared to 2012. "In view of our first-quarter results and of continuing economic uncertainty in certain key markets, management now expects a low- to mid-single-digit decline in full-year sales," Puma said in a statement. For the first quarter, net profit fell 32 percent to a worse than expected 50 million

Invista, a world leader in nylon intermediates, polymers and fibres, very recently told WTiN that it felt there was plenty of opportunities available for investment and growth in the Far East. Since then, the company has signed a Land Reservation Agreement with the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park Development Company for a nylon 6,6 polymer site at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP). The agreement is for additional land adjacent to Invista’s planned hexamethylene diamine (HMD) and

Fashion brands are constantly criticized for featuring unhealthy and unnaturally skinny models in their advertisements but H&M is taking one giant step forward in representing women of all sizes with its new summer collection ads featuring model Jenny Runk. I reached out to H&M to see if we can expect to see more relatable campaigns like this one. “We think Jenny Runk shows off our summer swimwear in a very good way and are extremely happy with the pictures," said a spo

Country's readymade garment (RMG) industry is facing a shortage of workers in the aftermath of Tazreen and Savar tragedies, industry insiders said. They also said for shortage of workers the apparel industry cannot properly utilise their hundred per cent production capacity. "Tazreen and Savar tragedies created a panic among the RMG workers, it has been very difficult to recruit new manpower," Managing Director of Nassa Group Khandakar Mohammed Saiful Islam told the FE. He said after pasting

The Fourth Safety Fun Run organized in Vietnam’s southernmost province of Binh Duong by Better Work Vietnam attracted participation of over 3,600 garment workers. The focus of the annual event this time was "Putting Fire Safety First". The event was meant to generate awareness regarding ways to avert fire incidences in the country’s garment factories by fortifying the ties between employers, employees, buyers and the community. The event also provided a platform to the particip

Statistics show that the leather and footwear sector earned US$520 million from exports this April and US$2,252 million in the first four months of this year, a nine percent increase from a year ago. The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the growth in these months had been the slowest since last April. Vietnamese leather and footwear exports are still risky as a result of changes in the world market and Vietnam’s great reliance on material imports including tanned and artificial leat