Explore ideas, evidence and developments across the textile value chain.
23,367 articles · latest first · 22,081–22,104
News28 Nov 2013A slower export demand left auction values vulnerable to a downward correction last week. Wool Services International’s Coarse Crossbred Indicator dropped by just under 8%, to 524 NZ cents per kilo, clean. Up until last week, the Indicator had gained 22.7% since the start of the season.
News28 Nov 2013The offering at the ninth sale of the 2013/14 season was again modest and well below year-earlier levels. A total of 1,698,055 kilos came under the hammer, of which 89% sold. That clearance rate was lower than at recent auctions and prices generally weakened. The British Fleece Wool Price Indicator declined by 5.5% to 225 pence per kilo, clean.
News28 Nov 2013Wool prices came under pressure at this week’s sale in South Africa. The Cape Wool’s Merino Indicator declined by 3.1%, to R111.48 per kilo, clean. Resistance to high prices levels among buyers may have contributed to the downturn. Of the 11,243 bales on offer, 94% were sold.
A team of Australian and Spanish researchers led by Elena Ivanova of the Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, have borrowed inspiration from nature and have developed nano black silicon biocidal surfaces that have effective biocidal capabilities against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and endospores.
Insight27 Nov 2013Research into the sustainability of consumer textiles by The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) has found that product and process designers in the clothing, footwear, and textiles industry are turning to dematerialization strategies to be both greener and more profitable.
Insight27 Nov 2013A tangible shift in the tone of reports forthcoming in Asia’s main cotton yarn producing countries has been discernible during the past month or so, with business almost uniformly described in disappointing terms by spinners and traders alike. The consistent references to a slower pace of buying by Chinese buyers are difficult to ignore, even though such remarks have yet to be clearly reflected by statistics. Moreover, yarn buyers more generally have tended cover only their most pressing requirements in the belief that prices will continue to fall. Reports have begun to emerge of unsold stocks accumulating and downward pressure on prices increasing.
Ploucquet, an affiliate company of Sympatex Holding, is moving all its activities to the production site in Zittau, eastern Germany from January 2014. The company’s Tection (technical textiles and applications) business is already at the site and will be joined by the Textiles (such as lining, pocket lining and waistband products) business unit in the new year, with staff numbers totalling 150.
News27 Nov 2013Overall, the yarn business climate in Indonesia has remained depressed during the past few weeks. Nonetheless, a slight improvement in demand for coarser counts of cotton yarn has emerged in recent days, and in carded 20s in particular. These yarns are especially popular on the domestic market, where fabric manufacturers have moved to cover their more pressing raw material requirements. The focus on coarser counts of yarn also reflects a price consciousness among downstream buyers in straitened economic circumstances, with the weakness of the rupiah undermining consumer confidence. Cheaper, heavier weight fabrics have been in the limelight of late.
News27 Nov 2013Sluggish trading and a weaker price sentiment have continued to characterise yarn business in India during the past week. The main issue in terms of cotton yarn has again been the failure of import buying from China to re-emerge with renewed vigour. However, domestic offtake has also been slow, with weaver and knitters adhering to a hand-to-mouth purchasing strategy.
News27 Nov 2013After many weeks of conjecture over the timing and terms of China’s state reserve auctions, the China Cotton Association has confirmed that the China National Cotton Reservation Cooperation will begin sales tomorrow (November 28). Moreover, as was widely predicted, a floor price has been set for the auctions of 18,000 yuan per tonne (about 134.00 US cents per lb), well below the current spot market prices, as measured by the China Cotton Index, of 19,640 yuan (146.00 US cents per lb).
Insight27 Nov 2013Chinese and Pakistani textile and clothing industry associations have taken the first step to explore the possibility of setting up joint ventures in Pakistan by forming a working group for providing match-making services to the prospective investors.
Tennessee Apparel Corp (TAC), a US manufacturer of military garments, is supplying chemical and biological protective garments under the Uniform Integrated Protection Ensemble Increment 1 (UIPE I1) effort in a contract valued at $129m.
