Search Results for: japan

Gorpcore’ fashion, wearing outdoor functional clothing as fashionable streetwear, is rising in popularity, so much that much specialist apparel specifically designed for mountain environments will “never see a mountain,” a performance clothing designer has told WTiN. 

Their expensive materials and complex designs have “attracted fashion and streetwear to outdoor clothing,” Richard Dannah, an outdoor performance sportwear designer with more than 20 years’ experience in the field, told WTiN.…

Packaging firms and brands are preparing for a boom in biomaterial packaging, fuelled by greater consumer demand, regulations to increase sustainability and the maturity of biomaterials. A report by Massachusetts, US-based management consulting firm Arthur D Little (1), released in 2022, said that investment has fuelled production improvements and capacity, easing the mass production of biomaterials derived from plants, animals or bacteria.…

Since economic liberalisation and globalisation kicked in major economic growth in China since 1990, China’s food and beverage industry has expanded exponentially, boosting the country’s metal packaging industry (1).
London-based market researcher GlobalData (NOTE TO EDITOR – NO SPACE BETWEEN WORDS IN THIS COMPANY NAME) has forecast that China’s market will purchase more than 1 trillion units in 2024, with rigid metal packaging taking a 10.5% volume share of this vast financial cake (2).…

The release by the European Commission (EC) of the first European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) on July 31 has prompted concern that while efforts have been made to align these with International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) models, there are still important contrasts (1).…

Bangladesh clothing manufacturers have been looking to expand export sales beyond their established markets in the European Union (EU), the United States, Canada and the UK, seeking new revenue in non-traditional markets such as Brazil, India, Japan and South Korea.

According to data from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh apparel exports for 2022 (calendar year) have sourced 16.1% of revenue from non-traditional markets – USD7.35 billion, out of overall apparel exports of USD45.7 billion.…

Time was that whistleblowing laws were a novelty. No longer – they are increasingly commonplace in developed economy jurisdictions and offer a widening range of protections.

Take the USA. A bipartisan bill was proposed in March (2023) by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren to strengthen whistleblower protections at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).…

The bounce back from Covid-19 lockdowns to the key south-east Asian economies of Malaysia and Singapore have seen robust growth in both countries, boosting paint and coatings sales, although the Malaysian market has some fragility this year.

Economic growth in both ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members have been robust with data from the World Bank showing Malaysia’s GDP expanding from USD337.34 billion in 2020 to USD406.31 in 2022 (1) – its population being 33.5 million people.…

China’s sportswear brands have witnessed significant growth in sales during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially on domestic markets where consumers have embraced athleisure trends. Prominent examples include Beijing-based Li-Ning and Jinjiang-based Anta, which reported Chinese Yuan Renminbi-denominated sales growth of 14.3% (1) and 15.5% (2) respectively in 2022.…

Consumers in the rich east Asian markets of Japan and South Korea are increasingly keen on heated tobacco and vape products, although regulatory hurdles are restricting sales growth.

E-cigarettes that contain nicotine have long been prohibited under Japan’s Pharmaceutical Affairs Act in 2010 (1), although products without nicotine are proving popular with young adults, aged up to 29, according to a study by the Osaka International Cancer Institute (2) published in 2022.…

Knitwear microfactories have been expanding in number this year (2023) due to industrial, regulatory and societal changes accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Manufacturers have been eyeing the potential of small-scale, high-tech facilities, which can streamline production and be better suited to operate on an on-demand basis than larger plants.…