Despite its venerable position on the fashion scene, the French apparel and footwear market has not escaped the country’s poor macroeconomic environment, with value sales contracting by 1.3 percent in 2013. Against this challenging backdrop, price polarisation has become salient. While high tourist inflows have kept the luxury segment afloat, domestic consumers are driving growth at the economy end of the market. Penny-pinching pushes prices down French consumers have become increasingly c

The exports of textiles and apparel from Pakistan increased by 7.99 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of the financial year 2013-14 that began on July 1, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Pakistan exported textiles and garments worth US$ 10.384 billion in July-March 2013-14, compared to exports of $9.616 billion made during the corresponding period of 2012-13, PBS data showed. While most of the categories showed improvement, exports of c

Apparel makers have demanded duty-free import of safety equipment required for making their factories safe and environment-friendly ones. The demand was made at a press conference held at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) on Saturday. “The import of sprinkler, fire door and other safety and environment-friendly equipment should be made duty-free ones. We’re requesting the government to take steps to that end,” BGMEA President M Atiqul Islam said. He

Bangladesh is well known for producing low-priced apparel items across the world. But just being price competitive is not enough to win the hearts of the European consumers, especially after the fire at Tazreen Fashions and Rana Plaza building collapse that took the lives of at least 1,247 workers and injured more than 2,000. The local clothing sector requires continual improvements to ensure workplace safety and better living conditions to avert the risks of losing customers in Europe. Mi

Vietnam earned EUR268.5 million from shipping 27.7 million pairs of shoes to Spain last year, ranking it second among footwear suppliers to this South European nation. Spanish Footwear Producers Federation (FICE) statistics show Vietnamese footwear exports to Spain increased 11% in volume, but decreased 1.1% in value compared to 2012’s figures. Over the years, Vietnam has been one of Spain’s leading footwear exporters, second only to China, except for 2011. Last year, Spain imported 329

Scores of foreign invested enterprises in the textile and garment sector are looking to expand their presence in Vietnam, the Vietnam Investment Review said. In late April or early May, Venture International JSC from the Netherlands plans to start construction on a new factory in the central province of Nghe An. The 10 million USD factory has a designed capacity of 150,000-210,000 jackets and 2 million shirts a year, and would provide jobs to about 1,000 workers. Venture dropped anchor

Pakistan ginners are encumbered with nearly half a million unsold bales from the current season. They were anticipating better prices to meet the demand of European Market after have got the status of GSP-Plus but prices have fallen down beyond their expectations. The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) hold responsible the policy makers for allowing import cotton and yarn from India. Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) has urged the Government that they should ask the Trading C

Machine made carpet exports from Turkey on rise, in the first quarter of 2014 its carpet exports has exceed US$0.5 billion. According to the Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporter Association ((ITKIB), machine made carpet exports has increased by 9.9 percent to $546 million in first quarter of 2014 in comparison to $497 million in the same period last year. At present, Turkey stands to be the second largest carpet exporter with $2.2 billion worth of exports beside China’s all time record of $2

The share of textiles, apparel and footwear in total exports from Romania has fallen from about one-third in 2000 to about 10 percent in 2013, although the value of exports has risen from ?3.6 billion to ?5.1 billion during the same period, according to the National Statistical Institute (INS). In 2000, the exports of textile, clothing and footwear from Romania were ?3.583 billion, which was 1.8 percent of the total ?11.273 billion worth of goods exported by the European country in that year.

Cotton imports in Thailand are expected to increase to 1.6-1.7 million bales, during the marketing year (MY) of 2014/15 (August 2014 to July 2015), as spinners will likely recover from the domestic economic downturn, states a report by the United States Agricultural Department (USDA). According to the USDA report on Thailand Cotton 2014, cotton imports from the US are also expected to increase to approximately 500,000 bales during MY2014/15, as spinners prefer the higher quality fiber to ensu