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WORLDWIDE inflation is impacting the can making industry and its supply chain partners. Indeed, metal packaging prices have risen by at least 25% this year, according to industry association FoodDrinkEurope. A key reason has been soaring prices for energy used in manufacture, up more than 50% in 2022 according to the World Bank.…

Knitwear brands have been progressively investing in mentorship and incubation programmes, hoping the resulting inspiration will widen their offer with creative products, reach more consumers and promote innovation in their work methods.
London – one of the big four fashion cities, alongside Paris, New York, and Milan – is this month (November) hosting the first collection of products made through the Atelier100 hyperlocal hothouse programme, at the brand’s retail store in Hammersmith (west London) (1).…

Innovation in athleisure gear continues to drive performance improvements, with an eye to boosting sustainability, as consumers become more environment conscious, and regulation toughens up.

Of course, making such improvements is no easy feat today given the entire supply chain is facing “unprecedented challenges,” warned Davide Vigano, CEO of tech textile manufacturer Sensoria, based in Redmond, Washington state, USA, as shipping delays hinder the delivery of components, and transport prices increase as energy costs also soar, pushed up by Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine. …

It is ‘de rigeur’ for tech publications to define the ‘metaverse’ – Wikipedia is perhaps most succinct – ‘a metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection’ (1). As for their fraud risk, there is a growing consensus that the metaverse offers fraudsters and cybercriminals significant opportunities to exploit this growing network of IT systems integrating virtual or augmented reality (VR and AR).…

Public-private partnerships (PPP) in the anti-money laundering domain are “flourishing” across the European Union (EU) but “there is no commonly agreed definition” of how these should operate, notes new European Commission guidance. A staff working document (1) from the EU executive “does not aim to harmonise the concept of public-private partnerships”, rather the “non-binding” guidance examines the way PPPs function in the EU, with a series of case studies.…

Smart textiles manufacturers affected by the shortage of electronics for their products may receive respite in 2023 as global supplies of components increase, even if some disruption of production and supply chain lingers.

According to 2022 research by US investment bank J.P.…

High value banknotes remain of concern to AML regulators, even though they are increasingly being withdrawn from circulation. Despite the growth of electronic payments, the amount of physical cash in circulation remains huge. The USD remains the currency that circulates most widely in the world, with the US Currency Education Programme (a Federal Reserve scheme) saying that there was USD2 trillion in circulation by the start of 2021 (December 31, 2020).…

The European textile industry is already working more sustainably but can do better, said Charlotte Denis, communications officer for the European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing (ETP). Her comments are particularly valid as the platform is a key partner in the new two-year research project CISUTAC (Circular and Sustainable Textiles and Clothing – www.cisutac.eu),…

A key question in any industry is to what extent robotics will be able to replace the human hand. This issue is especially pertinent for textiles and clothing – where sensor-based automation increasingly carries out human tasks such as assessing the feel of textiles and quality control.…

While forecasts of a global recession are far from conclusive, the World Bank has in its latest international economy assessment released in September (2022) warned that such a downturn is a real possibility for 2023. (1) The reason is potential government spending tightening to deal with inflation rates not witnessed since the 1990s or earlier: “To stem risks from persistently high inflation, and in a context of limited fiscal space, many countries are withdrawing monetary and fiscal support,” noted the bank.…