At this point, making fun of Taylor Swift's love life is old news, but for some reason, Abercrombie & Fitch decided to jump on the bandwagon and sell a line of T-shirts on the subject that reads, "# more boyfriends than t.s." The T-shirt seems harmless to me, but Taylor's fans are pretty outraged and have taken action against Abercrombie with a petition on Change.org that asked the retailer to stop selling the shirt. One fan went as far as posting the phone number

Despite being the largest polyester producer in the world, China is still struggling to exert its influence over paraxylene (PX) prices, the most important raw material used in the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA). During the past three years, China’s imports of PX have represented 36%, 42% and 45%, respectively, of total domestic consumption. Expansion in China’s polyester production has lead to increased competition to secure raw materials, from which PX producers in Japan an

A proposed cotton deal between Dhaka and New Delhi has been stalled over difference of opinion in respect of providing guarantee by Bangladesh for mandatory import of the item, sources said. Bangladesh was negotiating with India for getting 1.5 million bales of cotton a year. The two neighbours had also moved to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard. During the negotiation Bangladesh proposed that any Indian ban on cotton will come into effect only after providing it with 1.5

Japanese retail giant Uniqlo plans to bolster its garment order volumes from Bangladesh, a top official of the company said. “I do not want to disclose the volume though, as it is a business secret,” Yukihiro Nitta, group executive officer of Fast Retailing, Uniqlo’s parent company, told The Daily Star in an interview. The company has decided to divert 30 percent of its annual purchases from China to Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia. Bangladesh will be a “significan

A woman works on the assembly line of a shoe factory in Tan Lap village, outside Hanoi February 22, 2013.Reuters U.S. efforts to forge a "21st Century" trade agreement with Vietnam and 10 other countries in the Asia Pacific region are running into problems mired in the past, including a textile trade policy that U.S. industry does not want to give up. The United States hopes to finish talks on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact by the end of the year, but Vietnam says the si

The inventories with garment manufacturing units in China have been rising in recent years, according to the China National Garment Association (CNGA). The association said the inventories with garment factories have risen to such a level that even if all the garment units across China closed, the stock would be enough to last for three years, chinadaily.com.cn reported. The high inventory is despite a steady growth in apparel sales in recent months. In May 2013, apparel sales rose 6.6 per

In the latest twist in the battle between Hermès and LVMH for the control of the former, Hermès has formalized a complaint against LVMH before the Paris Commercial Court to try to overturn the stock market mechanisms that have allowed the largest group luxury world to increase its stake in Hermès capital to a quarter. According to the French newspaper 'Les Echos', with this new court procedure, the creator of the Birkin handbag pretends to override the 'equity swaps' - financial artifice that h

China is the leading market for retail expansion and brands looking to grow their business. According to the AT Kearney Retail Apparel Index, China tops the world's developing markets, helped by its significant size and strong growth in clothing sales, with three trends – the rise of e-commerce, a boom in fast fashion and the evolution of the luxury market – making it the most interesting market. “In most emerging markets, e-commerce is less than 1 percent of total sales: in China, it is 6 per

The readymade garments industry, excluding exports, is set to double to Rs 4 lakh crore in the next five years with the removal of excise duty and increased demand for branded garments. According to Rahul Mehta, President of the Clothing Manufacturers Association (CMA) of India, the industry has started moving in the positive trajectory after growth was stalled by the 10 per cent excise duty imposed last year. The industry is now looking to target a growth of six to seven per cent this yea

Myanmar's clothing industry is expected to grow as a result of the country's readmission to a preferential EU trading scheme, according to sources from the industry. The European Union readmitted Myanmar to its trade preference scheme on June 12 which grants developing nations preferential access to the 27-nation bloc for several products in the form of lower tariffs. "This is a great chance for us, but it is also a challenge. The businessmen here are not familiar with it. Especially we need t