Chinese sportswear producer Li Ning Co announced Tuesday a huge loss for 2012, its first year in the red since it was listed in Hong Kong in 2004, amid a sluggish domestic economy and an industry downturn. The company said in an annual report that it suffered a 1.98 billion yuan ($318.8 million) loss in 2012, compared with a profit of 386 million yuan in 2011. Its stock price dropped 4.09 percent Tuesday to HK$4.46 ($0.57) following the news. The sportswear firm attributed the greater-than-

Workers at China-Tanzania Modern Agricultural Industrial Park. The park exports approximately 80,000 tons of cotton yarn each year. [Photo/ China Daily] Chinese firm sows seeds of success with Tanzania park Tanzania's cotton industry reaped in $81.52 million in exports last year. It employs nearly 16 million people in a nation of 45 million. It provides around 13 percent of the country's agricultural exports, second only to coffee. Still, the country's cotton farmers are suffering bec

Victoria Beckham's fashion empire got a little bigger this morning with the launch of her e-commerce site, victoriabeckham.com. Starting today, you can buy these dresses and more from her Victoria, Victoria Beckham collection, but full disclosure: They will not come cheap! Prices begin at $685 for the pink-and-black Firetail dress. Victoriatalked about her decision to debut her retail site with this tightly edited collection of dresses. “I think of Victoria, Victoria Beckham as the younger s

According to Yahoo Shine, Hermes is selling a $91,500 crocodile skin t-shirt. Repeat: a NINETY-ONE-THOUSAND FIVE-HUNDRED DOLLAR T-SHIRT. (Excuse the caps, but ZOMG!) To put things into perspective, here's a list of things you can do with that kind of dough: fly from New York to Paris in first class on Valentine's Day a whole bunch of times, buy a really nice house somewhere not too expensive, pick up the tab on a $100 dinner every night for three years or so, send a person (or yourself!) to coll

Bionda Castana might not be a household name just yet in the realm of big-deal lustworthy shoes, but the line (helmed by two Londoners with Italian roots) is majorly cool. I'm obsessed with the fall collection, which is the perfect blend of cool-girl and sex-pot. Here are five of my favorite pairs. These "Lana" heels are undeniably hot, hot, hot! As are these fire-engine red "Roisin" boots. Hubba, hubba! I 'm really feeling black & white booties these days, and the

Sudden rise in cotton price in local market has hit hard further the trouble-torn readymade garment (RMG) sector, industry insiders said. Price of cotton has gone up by around 15 per cent in last fifteen days following the increasing price of raw cotton in the international market, they added. According to them, the situation is worsening gradually because of hoarding tendency of international consumers including India, Pakistan and China. Garment industry leaders said if the price spiral con

‘Conscious collection’ H&M leaves seamstresses unconsious Clean Clothes Campaign launches a spoof campaign called ‘Unconcsious Collapsed’. The campaign targets H&M’s launch of the new ‘Conscious Collection’, criticising the working conditions in Asian garment factories. In Cambodia alone, more than 2900 workers have collapsed since 2010, several hundred of them at H&M suppliers. The spoof shows Vanessa Paradis, model for H&M, sitting in a leafy garden, surrounded by garment w

If Cambodia is anything to go by, physical size and a population of just 15m are immaterial when it comes to building a successful garment industry. But as a series of strikes were brought to a close on Friday with a rise in the minimum wage for the sector of 20 per cent, globally recognised brands such as Levi Strauss, Gap and H&M will have to decide whether Cambodia is likely to remain their most cost-effective option. The minimum wage for workers in garment factories will rise from $61

A woman passes an illuminated logo in the window of a Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) store in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 2013. Photograph: Bloomberg About a quarter of the garment factories in Cambodia that supply Swedish clothing giant H&M have been the scene of mass faintings or large-scale strikes since 2010, based on a suppliers list the clothing giant released late last week. Along with its 2012 sustainability report, the Swedish retailer, which has 2,800 stores worldwide, rel

Turkmenpagt signed a contract with Engin Group (Turkey) to build cotton factories in the Altyn Asyr District of the Akhal Region and the Sakarchagi District in the Mary Region. Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov ordered provisions of high-quality cotton seeds and modernization of cotton industry. Each factory will process 40,000 tons of cotton annually. A new facility for cotton will be built at the Akdepi District of the Dashoguz Region. Construction will start in April 2013 and