According to a recent International Labour Organization (ILO) report, although Asia is the world’s biggest apparel manufacturer, it confronts a number of problems. The ILO report refers to Asia as the “world’s clothing factory,” but cautions that the sector confronts a slew of issues, many of which have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 outbreak. Rising labor costs, manufacturing and process automation, ‘reshoring... Read More

Work has commenced on a Government-funded project to assess opportunities for processing more wool in Australia as well as new overseas markets. The aim is to reduce the industry’s reliance on the current limited number of processing markets for Australian wool. AWI is working with WoolProducers Australia which was awarded a $662,000 grant as part of the Australian Government’s Agricultural Trade and Market Acces... Read More

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has paused its consumer-facing transparency programme after backlash from Norway’s advertising watchdog which claims is resulting in misleading environmental claims from brands. In a statement issued today (27 June), CEO of the  SAC, Amina Razvi, confirmed the decision to “pause the consumer-facing transparency programme globally” as it works with the Norwegian Consumer Aut... Read More

The European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex) says it plans to pursue fibre-to-fibre recycling for 2.5m tonnes of textile waste by 2030 through its ReHubs initiative. Euratex first unveiled its ReHubs initiative at the end of 2020 as part of a bid to upcycle textile waste and circular materials across the continent. The aim is to establish five recycling hubs, known as ReHubs, serving the whole of E... Read More

This weeks’ season-ending Australian wool auctions finished on a very poor note. Every wool type and description on offer sold to cheaper levels. In many cases these falls were heavy and well over 100ac clean/kg in magnitude. The Merino fleece and skirtings at the finer (less than 19 micron) end of the market was most affected. Crossbred wool types and cardings held on rather well in comparison but still experienced... Read More

Market mixed. Both centres selling today.  North Island offering 8,300 bales and South Island offering 11,800 bales.  The selection consisted of 28% poorer style crossbred fleece, 35-38 micron 100/125mm, 38% crossbred second shear, 36-40 micron, bulk good colour 75mm, 14% lambs fleece, North Island 29-31 micron poor colour, South Island 30-32 micron,  good colour, 5% halfbred fleece good/average style 22-30 micron, ... Read More

Woolgrower owned Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) is rolling out a series of measures to better tackle the many challenges of wool harvesting. AWI Chairman Jock Laurie says this a multi-pronged approach that covers everything from further research into biological de-fleecing, shearing innovations, and increased training including of high school students. “There is no single solution or technological breakthrou... Read More

New Zealand’s only wool scourer WoolWorks will contribute $2.4 million over the next three years to support the new industry organisation Wool Impact Ltd. Wool Impact Ltd will work with brands and companies to get strong‐wool products onto markets quickly and ultimately lift returns to farmers. It has been established following nearly four years of discussions between industry stakeholders and the government to f... Read More

2022 is shaping up to be the biggest year yet for Planet Protector Packaging, the award-winning Australian manufacturer and distributor of insulated packaging made from 100% non-textile grade, coarse wool. Founded in 2015, Planet Protector has been in the race to become the market leader in thermal packaging that doesn’t harm the planet. The company’s flagship product, Woolpack, is not only eco-friendly but is al... Read More

The latest Textile Exchange Material Change Insights Report reveals participating brands now use 50% sustainable materials in their portfolio compared to 44% the year prior. The 2021 Textile Exchange Material Change Insights Report, maps out progress towards more sustainable sourcing at the raw material level of the fashion and textile supply chain, using data from Textile Exchange’s Corporate Fibers and Material... Read More

ITM 2022, the first major international textile machinery exhibition to be held in the world after a 3-year hiatus during the pandemic process, is getting ready to open its doors. Bringing the leading brands of textile technologies together in Istanbul, ITM 2022 will host world launches and numerous collaborations for 5 days. ITM 2022- International Textile Machinery Exhibition, organized in partnership with Tekn... Read More

Circularity, carbon, community and pre-competitive collaboration, the four C’s of sustainability, dominated this year’s Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen. The resounding message? Urgently needed progress is reliant on the industry working together to achieve it. “To go faster, the entire industry has to be mobilised behind sustainability targets,” says Francois Souchet, global head of sustainability and impact ... Read More

The New Zealand Merino Company’s regenerative wool platform, ZQRX, has announced a strategic partnership with Savory Institute’s Land to Market Program. Together, the two companies will strengthen ZQRX’s network of farmers, which spans over 3.7 million acres of land. They will work together to achieve a more sustainable future by assisting these producers in constructing regenerative agriculture and monitoring the s... Read More

The AWI project to develop a system that delivers sheep directly to the shearer, thereby eliminating the catch and drag from the pen, is progressing well. In addition to the ‘automatic module’, a simpler and cheaper ‘manual module’ is also being developed. The modular sheep delivery unit being developed will not only eliminate the time and energy that shearers spend having to walk to the pen, catch a sheep and dr... Read More

Bluesign and SCTI to create first comprehensive sustainable chemistry index for the textiles Bluesign has teamed up with Sustainable Chemistry for the Textile Industry (SCTI™) to develop a sustainable chemistry index that will provide a standard communication guide for chemical suppliers, manufacturers, brands, and NGOs. The first-of-its-kind index is intended to inspire change in the industry by making it eas... Read More

A new sustainability-focused tech platform, Impactbytes, has been launched to help companies meet their commitments to recently proposed EU legislation and substantiate their sustainability claims. It also offers e-commerce information and links sustainable companies with a broad audience. According to Impactbytes, it is the first firm in the world to make the sustainability credentials of tens of thousands of it... Read More

In an effort to increase the sustainability of the apparel and textile industries, the Scottish Government and sustainable organization, Zero Waste Scotland has launched a new GBP2m (US$2.46m) Circular Textiles Fund. Scotland’s new joint funding project will see money flow directly to garment and textile firms throughout the nation, with the goal of supporting ideas that would strengthen the country’s circular ec... Read More